Multi-task fairy tale

We live busy lives. We have turned into decision making machines.

Our days are filled with a relentless amount of to do lists, deadlines, projects and requests that continuously hurdle towards you. Technology has been a main culprit, increasing our reaction time to be in a constant state of high alert. Emails bursting with urgency bidding for our attention. Suddenly the phone rings, intercepting our train of thought to stop the nagging ring to answer the call. We are then pulled towards the alarming sound of text messages clamouring for our response. At the corner of our eye snippets of email messages continuously flow one after the other. How amazing the amount of outside sources demanding our attention.

We overload ourselves with more than we can produce by grossly underestimating our time commitments. Tasks are left in a constant influx of transition. Our focus is buried by an endless barrage of quick reactions jumping from one emergency to the next, turning a flurry of activities into a hurricane. A series of events interjecting and colliding all at the same time. No wonder we feel exhausted!

“Once thrown off track, it can take some 23 minutes for a worker to return to the original task,” says Gloria Mark, Professor of informatics University of California, Irvine.



The Multi-Task Fairytale

Multi-task is a distorted, make-believe, superhuman illusion that you can do it all and accomplish a massive amount of unrelated tasks all at the same time. The reality is you can only focus on accomplishing one task at a time. The only difference is that tasks relate and work together. For example, talking on the phone with to review notes on the computer screen; on paper, that relates to the same task at hand.

Our brains cannot switch from one task to a completely new task without first given the opportunity to start fresh and refocus our attention. Sure there can be multiple incidents that require our attention but our brain can only focus on one thing at a time. We are not built to skip and switch from task to task in a single moment.

 

Wikipedia Definition of Multi-tasking

Many researchers believe that action planning represents a "bottleneck", which the human brain can only perform one task at a time. Psychiatrist Edward M. Hallowell has gone so far as to describe multi-tasking as a “mythical activity in which people believe they can perform two or more tasks simultaneously as effectively as one or can perform a separate task simultaneously.

 

Stop the Chaos

We live in a world consumed with distractions. Technology has created a huge impact on how quickly our reaction is to every request. It seems as though we are on a constant state of alert. It is time to stop the chaos multi-tasking creates and pick up healthier routines to accomplish tasks in your day. Here are a few suggestions to help you get more done in your day:

• Give yourself permission to take a break between tasks.
• Take a break and go for a walk.
• Move around and stretch your body.
• Take in deep breaths to allow oxygen into your brain.
• Have a drink of water and a small snack to re-energize.

Your day does not need to feel like a race. Try these activities to switch things up to change your brain. Give yourself the opportunity to refocus before beginning a new task. Remember it is not how quickly or the quantity of tasks vying for your attention, but the quality of the finished product that is important.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.