In today's fast paced life, multitasking is considered by many to be a great skill, but is it really? There are conflicting opinions whether multitasking is efficient and effective, and whether the human brain can support this sort of activity.
The definition of mutltitasking is "trying to perform two or more tasks concurrently", in other words repeatedly switching between two or more tasks. I am "guilty" of doing that all the time. However, according to some psychology experts the human brain is not able to multitask, it is designed to complete one task at a time. Therefore when we try to split our attention between tasks, one or both of them will suffer. Since our brains cannot effectively do two things at once, and we bounce back and forth, we are prone to make more mistakes and we are less productive. So what is the solution? Try doing one task at a time and see if it will increase your productivity and decrease your stress. Maybe everything will be done on time with some time to spare.
When you are working on a project, concentrate on that and do not look at your emails or texts while you are working on it. Do not look at your social media apps, focus only on the task at hand. Try scheduling a specific time during the day to look at emails and texts, and don't try to respond as they arrive. Nothing is that important that it cannot wait. I tried it, and it works. Things did get done.
The "experts" and psychologists are saying that multitasking can have consequences on our mental and physical well being, including short-term memory, increasing anxiety and stress.We think we are being productive, but maybe not. Many times I find myself stressed out when I have several things going on simultaniously, and I bounce back and forth from task to task. So, maybe the "experts" are right.
Here is a fun exercise to try and you can decide what works best for you.....
- Draw two lines on a piece of paper
- Start a timer, and on the first line write "I am a great multitasker"
- On the second line write the number 1 through 20 in sequence.
- Stop the timer. This represents Monotasking.
- Now, draw two lines on a piece of paper
- Start the timer, and alternate back and forth between writing the next letter in the sentence and the next number in the sequence......i.e. I on one line and 1 or the other line, a on one line and 2 on the other line etc..
- Stop the timer. This represents Multitasking
How did you do?
I tried the exercise and to my surprise, I did better at monotasking than multitasking.It took me twice as long to do the multitasking. I also found myself stressing out and having to think what I was doing, thus taking more time to complete the task. Maybe I need to re-think this, and instead of trying to do a bunch of things all at once, focus on one thing at a time. This might even give me extra time to discover things around me that I have been missing.
......Lord, you have done so many things! You made them all so wise! The earth is full of your creations!
Psalm 104:24
So many things to enjoy!
Have a great day!
