2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44
Everyone is familiar with a similar situation: you decided to have lunch with someone, but suddenly the interlocutor's phone starts ringing. It can be a “very urgent” call or a simple text message “Hello, how are you?”. And even after the person has apologized to you for being distracted by his "urgent business", you cannot help but notice how his eyes are constantly looking at the phone, waiting for another call or message. You can call this behavior inappropriate, but your interlocutor, of course, assures you that his strong point is multitasking … So are we really as multitasking as we think we are?
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The mechanics of multitasking
Multitasking not only hinders productivity gains, but also greatly reduces productivity. According to one of the articles published in the journal Psychology Today, multitasking (performing two tasks at the same time) is possible only when two conditions are met:
- one of the tasks should be so reflex that there is no need to focus on it;
- these tasks must be controlled by different parts of the brain.
The article explains why it is possible to read and listen to instrumental music at the same time. These processes affect various areas of our brain. However, if there are words in music, then our ability to remember information is greatly reduced, because in both cases the language center of the brain is involved. Reading e-mail or text messages also prevents us from listening and understanding the interlocutor.
Plus, we often get it wrong about our multitasking behavior. In fact, we do not perform several actions at the same time, but do them sequentially, while often "switching" from one to another.
There is a solution: eliminate noise
You should start by turning off all unnecessary devices. Put your mobile phone aside, log out of the social network for a while. Tell your friends and acquaintances that you will not be in touch for a while, but you will answer them during the day. Most importantly, try to focus on one task. We live in a society that considers multitasking to be a valuable and useful quality, but, as mentioned above, it only reduces productivity.
Systematization
We hope that we will be able to successfully and fully contact always and with everyone. But we can't do it. What to do? Set rules, define your time. Throughout the day, create time intervals for yourself (from 5 to 25 minutes) during which you allow your thoughts to move smoothly and smoothly from one task to another. Do not forget to set aside small intervals for switching between activities in which the same part of the brain is involved.
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