Multitasking versus Productivity: How to Avoid Harming Your Brain

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

"You are like Julius Caesar - you do three things at once!" - we are used to admiring people who do everything at once. True, multitasking hurts us more than it helps. How it gets in the way of having to work on all projects at the same time and how to get things done when you don't have time for everything, says Ben Slater, director of marketing and sales at Seed, which promotes scientific HR science.

How many browser tabs do you have? Right now? More than ten, I think. Perhaps twenty. Some are for research, some help you stay in touch with colleagues and clients, and some are open for fun while no one is seeing. It doesn't matter why you need these tabs - they still don't help. We can no longer just sit down and do one thing. I confess, I myself, while writing this post, checked my mail and answered tweets.

Switching between a thousand tasks, we feel like we don't have a second to rest. And then we think that today was another bad day: we were terribly busy and did not have time to do anything. However, the evening is no better. We eat while looking at the TV screen, read a book, listen to the radio. Who prevents you from just sitting down and focusing on one thing?

We are constantly distracted from the main goal, which in itself is bad. But now there's more evidence that multitasking is bad for our brains. Sounds scary. It seems like it's time to try working in a different mode.

Why do we do everything at the same time

What is the answer? Because there is no other way.

Technologies are invented to make life simple and fast. Smartphones, like Swiss army knives, do everything in every area, from making plans for the weekend to tuning a guitar. When an application is invented for each step, it is difficult not to use them every second. Did you go to the supermarket? Why not make a shopping list by listening to a popular podcast? Going to have lunch with your friends? Post on Facebook for someone else to pull up!

What Science Says

Science knows why we love to do multiple tasks at the same time.

Why is it nice

Our own brain is deceiving us! Because he likes it when we are supposedly busy up to the throat. Research that multitasking leads to the release of dopamine, the hormone of happiness. We should be rewarded for hard work!

We, like magpies, are easily distracted by everything new, bright and shiny. And the part of the brain that is responsible for concentration suffers the most from this.

The pleasure centers are activated when we switch between tasks. One has only to look at a new letter in the inbox, an alert on the social network - a small dose of the pleasure hormone immediately enters the bloodstream. Of course, it is easy to get distracted in such conditions.

Why is that bad

Because it provokes stress. Multitasking has been proven to be the cause of increased production of another substance, cortisol, a stress hormone that affects everything from mental performance to muscle density. If you are often distracted, you can say goodbye to the hard-earned press cubes. Don't like the perspective? You can not answer all these messages, that's all?

No, this is not enough. Scientists say that the very ability to switch to multitasking interferes with coping with things and lowers IQ by about 10 points. You know that you have unread emails, which means that your productivity has already decreased.

To understand the magnitude of the consequences, consider just one example. Herbal drugs are known to reduce thinking ability. Well, the negative impact of multitasking on the cognitive function of the brain is even stronger.

Caesar could, so I can

If you constantly work, switching from one activity to another, you can develop a habit and become an expert at multitasking. And learn how to immediately filter all the information to become a productivity genius. Which of the two statements is correct?

None. Researchers say that "multi-site users" are much less oriented in the information flow and cannot quickly separate important information from garbage. There are a couple of isolated examples of people who can do everything at once, but these are the exceptions, not the rule.

What distracts us the most

What most often makes us break away from work?

For me, the greatest evil is the endless stream of new letters. I think many people are faced with this. Friends and colleagues also complain about incoming calls. We believe that we must answer all letters, but if we do this, then there will be no time left for anything else.

Messages are so firmly embedded in the workflow that many are fixated on not having unread messages in their inbox. And when the counter shows zero, it feels like we have found the Holy Grail of the digital world.

No matter how many new messages there are in the mailbox, they interfere with us. And that's why:

1. An instant response is expected from us

It takes time to write and send a response. You do not have to answer this second, you may well postpone the letter until the moment when you are ready to deal with it.

We are always within reach. Out of the office? So what, you can check your mail using your smartphone or tablet. What can get in the way?

Public expectations dictate what we must answer. We don't want to upset the sender. I am using a mail plugin that allows me to see when recipients open my messages. And while I oppose an immediate response to the mail, it is difficult to get rid of the annoyance when someone reads an email but is in no hurry to respond.

2. Anyone can write

It is unlikely that you will send a letter by regular mail to a person you do not know.

But our approach to emails is different. We do not hesitate to find out someone's email by any means. When we get it, the hunting season can be considered open. Email messages are so impersonal that we can send hundreds of emails to complete strangers.

The boxes are filled with cold messages. We waste valuable minutes trying to filter them by sending them to the archive and to the trash. What frustrates me the most is that people who send out such newsletters receive almost no response to them. It makes no sense to send letters with a hint of personalization, people also delete them without reading them.

3. Letters force you to make immediate decisions

While we wade through the letters, we have to make many decisions, and this process is very stressful for the brain. Throwing all our strength into the constant change of objects of attention, we spend energy and fuel on the frantic work of the brain, and then we feel tired and exhausted.

Even the popular email management apps designed so you don't waste time parsing your mail don't eliminate the need to decide all the time: answer right now or postpone until tomorrow?

How to stop wasting time and be more productive

If you expect universal advice from me that will immediately solve all problems, then I have to disappoint you. There is no ready-made solution, but there are tactics to follow to avoid multitasking and become more productive.

1. Plan things in the evening

I haven't opened America for you, but this method works. Spending ten minutes in the evening writing a list of key tasks for the next day helps keep you focused on work.

List the things you need to complete tomorrow, and start checking your mail and messages only after you have completed all the items on the list.

2. Use the "tomato" time management technique

I use it myself, I'm very happy with it. It is a time management technique by the Italian Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s.

Divide your workday into several 25-minute periods of intense, strenuous work, with five minutes of rest in between. The method is based on the hypothesis that frequent breaks stimulate mental activity.

I use 25 minute chunks to tackle the main tasks scheduled in the evening. And during breaks, I switch to parsing mail and checking notifications.

I highly recommend giving this technique a green light. You can even buy a funny tomato-shaped timer to measure your periods of activity and rest.

3. Set aside a special time for mail in the schedule

I myself use other methods, but many experts advise to include in the schedule a separate time for sorting correspondence.

Highlight a line in your diary to devote part of the day to reading emails, replying to tweets and messages, and only open mail during this time. Turn off notifications on your smartphone and in the browser to adhere to this rule, even if you are afraid of accidentally missing an urgent email.

Outcomes

There is no one to blame for the fact that we have to do so many things at the same time. Forcing yourself to ignore incoming messages and stop jumping from one task to another is not an easy task.

Every message we send helps you eat the hormones of happiness in a spoonful and gives you a sense of satisfaction when it seems that we are so organized and responsible. The truth is different: we are simply distracted from the important matter.

It is very difficult to stop it. But I like to concentrate only on work. Try one of the methods I recommended and compare your productivity before and after.

P. S. You can listen to music

Don't worry, you don't have to close iTunes! Parts of the brain are responsible for listening to music, their activity does not intersect with your work, which means it does not reduce productivity.

What do you do so as not to be distracted by trifles?