With the dawning of the Information Age came a perception that we in the civilized world had obtained a new human ability. It was, as if our genetic makeup had somehow evolved to meet the capabilities that our new technologies supposedly offered us…
And a whole new way of doing things was born: multitasking.
But because it was becoming trendy to multitask, society soon came to expect it. Essentially, if you don’t engage a friend’s new Facebook status within a half-hour of its posting, if you don’t return emails within five minutes of its receiving, if you don’t respond to a text within 60 seconds of its sending, and if you don’t answer a call on your smartphone immediately -then you have just fallen short of societal expectations, because you should’ve been able to do 83 things at once. Oh, the humanity.
Yet, I’m going to challenge such a notion with a quote from the great one, Bruce Lee…
“I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.”
What does this cinematic human lightning bolt say makes you dangerous enough to win his fear? I think the principle here is that FOCUS gives you tremendous power potential: the ability to zero in on a single task at hand. And that’s the exact opposite of multitasking.
Words of great kung fu masters aside, here are 5 more reasons why multitasking is absolute horse hockey, and why ‘silent mode’ could give your training business a massive advantage over your competitors that don’t use it.
#5 – Multitasking Makes You Inefficient
Researchers have finally come to learn that multitasking is, in fact, destructive to our capabilities, causing us to become incredibly unproductive -which is exactly the opposite of what multitasking was supposed to do in the first place. Multitasking is a great way to do a ton of things slower than you could have, and doing a worse job in the process. Given the sheer volume of what we must daily achieve in our personal training business, that’s a great incentive NOT to multitask.
According to Health.com, expecting someone to multitask is practically the same thing, as asking an Olympic sprinter to run the 400-yarder and hit the hurdles at the same time. Since it’s 2 different races, the runner won’t be as fast for a sprint, nor nearly focused enough to handle the hurdles. You just end up with subpar performance on both tasks -which doesn’t do much good for the runner on either race.
If your mental energies are being divided in half between two separate tasks, then you should expect 50% of your potential achievement on both -and in school, that’s called an ‘F’.
#4 – Multitasking Decreases Your Brain Power
It was originally supposed that multitaskers are more efficient, and even smarter, than the rest of we single-minded simpletons. However, Time posted an article, in which they discussed a Stanford study that surveyed college students. Their findings showed that being a chronic multitasker will hurt the brain’s capacity for focus, even when that individual isn’t in the process of multitasking:
“They found the opposite: Chronic multitaskers were abysmal at all three tasks. The scariest part: Only one of the experiments actually involved multitasking, signaling to Nass that even when they focus on a single activity, frequent multitaskers use their brains less effectively.”
The moral of the story? This is your brain, and that’s your brain on multitasking. Just say ‘no’, and get back to that text, once you’ve safely parked.
#3 – Multitasking Doesn’t Even Exist
Multitasking is snake oil, a myth, a farce…
Let’s break it down rationally: you can’t actually do two things simultaneously, since the human brain can only think about one thing at a time. Some say that their brains can do this, but quite frankly, you can test that theory right now. Go ahead, give it a try…
Any luck? Of course, the reason for our inability to think about multiple things at the same time boils down to this: cognitively engaging two thoughts at once requires two separate brains
With that said, it is possible to have multiple tasks in play simultaneously. The smart way to do this is called ‘leverage’ (having other human, technological, or proprietary resources go to work for you, which doesn’t require your additional focus or attention). The not-so-smart way is via multitasking, because it’s the act of attempting to accomplish several tasks at the same time, but doing this, while employing only a single mind/body resource. As Gary Keller puts it…
“Juggling is an illusion. … In reality, the balls are being independently caught and thrown in rapid succession. … It is actually task switching.”
#2 – Multitasking Can’t Logically Increase Productivity
In the same post, which says that the brain can only accomplish one cognitive task at a time, Psychology Today also discusses the fact that the term, ‘multitasking’, is a misnomer -and is more accurately described as Keller’s aforementioned, ‘task switching’. They also say that task switching comes at a massive cost to productivity, and this makes quite a bit of sense. Here’s an example…
If you need to complete the task of transporting the groceries from your Volvo to the house, then you’d apply strategic leverage to get it done more efficiently: loading your arms with as many bags as possible, leaving those bags on the kitchen table until all the groceries are inside. When you’re done with the Volvo-to-kitchen transporting phase, then that’s when you begin putting away the food.
Now imagine bringing each bag into the house, and putting away its groceries, before heading back out to the car for another. Essentially, you’re switching tasks back and forth, again and again, which is ‘multitasking’ at its most basic form.
So, how much longer do you think that would take you? The additional time/energy expenditure comes from the fact that you have to reorient your focus to a different task with every arm-load, even having to cover more distance over the course of the overall task …and that also needlessly costs additional time and energy.
Focusing on a single task by grouping everything together will strategically optimize your time and energy by improving your workflow and leveraging your limited supply focus.
Constant task switching, on the other hand, is toxic to workflow (and thus, will kill productivity potential).
#1 – Multitasking Leads to Stress
The worst part of multitasking is the fact that it’s a known stress inducer. This has also been proven, as the above Time magazine article also listed another study where the researcher…
“…cut 13 employees off from email for five days, strapped heart monitors to their chests, and tracked their computer use. Not surprisingly, the employees were less stressed when cut off from email. They focused on one task for longer periods of time and switched screens less often, thereby minimizing multitasking.”
This conclusion actually seems to resonate with reason, and here’s why. We’ve already established the fact that multitasking doesn’t exist, it hinders productivity, it’s toxic to workflow, and it generally makes life difficult for everybody attempting it…
So, yes, I can see why a company that expects employee multitasking would make their people feel generally upset. Honestly, doesn’t it make logical sense that -if you’re expected to be productive by doing the very thing that makes you unproductive, then wouldn’t this stress you out?
Perhaps that obvious fact is at the core of the reason why people feel inept and underproductive under those impossible working conditions; and so many of us live on the edge of burnout because of it. Multitasking forces people to use far more brain/calorie energy, while receiving far less of a payout for that energy in return.
Multitasking + more work = less stuff getting done. Hence, stress.
Thus, it’s no wonder why the employees in that study were less stressed without a multitasking requirement, because they had more energy to do their jobs, and more left over to do the things that they enjoy when their day was done.
And THAT’S why multitasking is total horse hockey.
Dear Reader, Thank You For Your Focus.
So, my friend, I appreciate your energetic focus. The world needs more single-minded individuals like you.
If this article made you rethink the practice of multitasking, then my work here is done. Hey at least you’ll have an advantage over your competitors that still have faith in their task switching tendencies; which perhaps, that’s your leg-up…
The kick that would have been powerful enough to frighten even Bruce Lee himself.
Nathan Jordan says
Great article. I have gotten better at minimizing my multi-tasking or task switching but I still have much work to do. I have a plan for tomorrow and that is to focus on four things reading, writing, training, and asking for reviews.
Domenique says
Thank You for this article. I completely agree. You are very eloquent in getting the concept to us. Cheers to planting the seed for a return to mind / body wellness!
Joe Carroll says
Best thing I’ve read in a very long time. I fell into that way of thinking, that multitasking is an “ability” that I should have. I’ve worked with mostly women for the past 15 years, and the common belief among the women I’ve worked with is that women can multitask and men can’t. It never made sense to me and after years of attempting to be good at multitasking, I find myself unable to focus on anything. Now I know why.
THANK YOU for the article, John.
Ann Myers says
Great article, thank you. I have been hearing more about the fallacy of multitasking recently and this is a perfect reminder to practice single focus. So it’s my goal this week to be mindful!!!