Death to Multitasking

Death to multi-tasking and the person who thought it would be a good idea to put into the universe the idea that if you simultaneously work on numerous projects that everything will get done faster and with perfection. That’s bull. Stop spreading these lies, people!

Yes, I am speaking to all of you emailing-texting-love-making-working-rockstars out there. You don’t have to take my word for it. Even research shows that our brain is not equipped to process more than one thing at the same time. Scientists don’t care what Future says.

“People can't multitask very well, and when people say they can, they're deluding themselves," says neuroscientist Earl Miller. "The brain is very good at deluding itself."

Yes, scientists have confirmed, your mind’s playing tricks on you.
Thus, we are left wondering why our boss is screaming over our shoulder when we blunder the big presentation at work. Was it because while you were online researching presentation information, you were also switching tabs between Ebay, Facebook and your favorite blog site?  

And we take the multi-tasking concept with us in every area of life. Like, when we think nothing can go wrong talking to multiple romantic interests (on the low) until we accidentally send a text message to Guy A, which was clearly meant for Guy E and people start asking questions. Trust me, I’ve been there. This is why I now keep my dating life open and honest so at least I can say, “Hey, I told you that you weren’t the only person I was dating. My bad, honeybunches ☺.”

But the most saddening part in letting our minds fool us into thinking we can multi-task ourselves to success is that we actually end up delaying our road to accomplishment.  

Because your brain cannot focus on several things at once, it has to completely switch gears every time you move to a new project. So while you think you are simply incorporating another task, your brain is actually eliminating the previous assignment and starting with the new one.

This back and forth forces your brain to move slower during the switch, especially when you are going back and forth between projects that are totally unrelated. Thus, a simple text to your girl while writing an assignment for school can have your work sounding less like a research paper and more like a love note.

Further, not only do you lose time slowing your brain down, you also lose time correcting mistakes that are likely to be made in the process. Some of these mistakes, mind you, can result in losing your job, your boo or much worse. Over time, this can reflect hours, days, even years of lost time that you could have spent on starting and completing one project at a time.

When working on very important projects, it is best to tune out any distractions by simply turning off your cell phone, becoming invisible in your Gchat window, etc. to give complete focus to the task at hand.

Give it a try and you will see that you will get each project done quicker and with more accuracy.