Why Multi-tasking Makes You Look Dumb, I Mean Frazzled

If you’ve ever found yourself preparing for a meeting last minute, you might be tempted to do several things at once, just to get finished for the day (or night). 

But what happens when you read an email, send a text and have a phone conversation all at the same time?

You may think you're being superhuman and time-efficient, but don't be surprised if you won't remember what you were reading, that your text is garbled – or you've lost track of what's being said to you. 

In his book The Organized Mind, Daniel Levitin (Professor of Psychology and Behavioural Science at McGill University) explains why multi-tasking is a surprisingly negative strategy.

Multi-Tasking Increases Your Stress Hormones

When you do more than one thing at a time, your body releases cortisol as well as the flight-or-flight hormone adrenaline. This overstimulates your brain, mentally fogging you up and scrambling how you think.

You're Getting Addicted!

A dopamine feedback loop rewards you for losing focus. Your brain begins to make connections between the activity and the pleasure loop, so you begin searching for this constant external stimulation. No wonder we like getting distracted so much.

Exploding the Getting Things Done Myth

We all want to feel we're using our time well – specially if we want to be prepared for a big meeting - but when you persistently shift your attention from one task to another you're fragmenting your concentration.  Its switch-tasking and it takes longer to pick up where you left off.  You might think you're doing better work - but you're not.  Studies have also shown that doing just one thing at a time for focused periods of time like 90 to 120 minutes you can get way more done with better quality.  Connectivity in your brain increases too.   Cognitive functions in the brain are not wired to do more than one task at a time.

So staying focussed on the one thing we're doing and shutting down our inclination to look elsewhere can actually make us smarter and help us feel calmer. 

If you want to get more done, just resist the temptation and avoid multi-tasking.

For more tips on staying focussed and getting prepared for a bigger career, sign up for your free masterclass on productivity here.  https://rosespadafora.lpages.co/bigcareer/