Multi-tasking, myth or reality ?

MIT #neuroscientist Earl Miller says, “Trying to concentrate on two tasks causes an overload of the brain’s processing capacity. Particularly when people try to perform similar tasks at the same time, such as writing an #email and talking on the phone, they compete to use the same part of the #brain. Trying to carry too much, the brain simply slows down.” If this is true for simple tasks like processing emails and phone calls, think of the impact of losing focus on the goals that could #transform your #business. The prefrontal cortex, the brain’s gateway, just can’t handle the daily flood that comes at us, because it is designed to deal with tea- spoons rather than tidal waves of information. 

IN OUR CULTURE of #multitasking, according to Professor Clifford Nass of Stanford University, “The neural circuits devoted to scanning, skimming, and multitasking are expanding and strengthening, while those used for reading and thinking deeply, with sustained concentration, are weakening or eroding.”  - What’s the consequence? 

“Habitual multi-taskers may be sacrificing #performance on the primary task.” (Another term for the primary task is the Wildly Important Goal - WIG.)

“Improving our ability to multitask actually hampers our ability to think deeply and creatively. The more you multitask, the less deliberative you become; the less you’re able to think and reason out a problem” says Jordan Grafman of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke in the USA.

OF COURSE, you don’t have to overload the brain. You can leverage the brain’s capacity to concentrate superbly on one wildly important goal at a time, while still being aware of the other priorities.