Arriving at work on time, preparing for meetings, showing up at meetings with a meaningful outcome, responding to emails, preparing for a presentation, giving a presentation, progressing through daily tasks, all of this, preferably right now, right away. To be as efficient as possible, we divide our attention and try to manage all of this at the same time. Despite the fact that science has investigated this matter from several directions, we have the right to feel that A multitaskingthis multi-bullshit predator is still alive and well and relentlessly destroying our attention.
According to neurologist Marilee Springer Multitasking increases the probability of making mistakes by 50 percent and slows us down by the same amount. While it drains our creativity and we have been shown to make worse decisions than when we work in a more immersed, slower, and more efficient way. Even if we stand there at the end of the day with a dead operating system around our neck, we’ll feel like we’ve done nothing.
The biggest trap of multitasking is based on our illusion: Activity also means efficiency, although most of the energy has already been spent diverting your attention and fruitless haste. Our expert very aptly describes this concept as cognitive sorcery, which… “This can lead to increased stress and decreased overall performance as the brain allocates valuable mental resources to switching tasks. Although this may appear to increase efficiency and effectiveness, According to research, the human mind is unable to multitask. It actually shifts attention between tasks, which can lead to decreased efficiency and potential errors. – explains organizational psychologist Lila Kertész.
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In The Burnout Society, Byung-chul Han takes a more angrier approach to multitasking. According to him, this process has shifted our attention and management of it, while we have learned to look at the world with a dispersed and fragmented perception. Although we consider it the ultimate advantage of the 21st century, according to him, multitasking is nothing more than an evolutionary step backwards.
“Multitasking is a daily necessity for wild animals. An attention tactic that is essential for survival in the wild. The animal that is currently feeding has to deal with many other tasks at the same time. For example, you need to keep hostile predators away from your prey.” While feeding, you must always be careful not to become food yourself. In addition, he must keep an eye on the latter and keep an eye on his partner. A wild animal is limited to dividing its attention between many different activities.
Thus, in Hahn’s interpretation of multitasking, it does nothing but turn a person into a wild animal crouching in front of a screen, at least on the level of attention and perception. According to him, this kind of recklessness leads to nothing: It reproduces and accelerates what already exists.
We start out, but we never close
Judith, HR Director at Able, believes that multitasking doesn’t produce results, it only supports burnout at work. So what is the solution? The specialist recommends several things:
- the Blocking time The essence of his method is that you divide your day in a focused way – for example, you go for a run from seven to eight in the morning, arrive at work at nine, where you devote two hours to preparing your presentation, the goal in the next block is to only respond to your messages, and so on. The point is that you deal with the assigned task only in the time allotted for it. According to the HR manager, it is not useful to separate work and private life when we move along the clock, because, he says, we have one life. In addition to work blocks, you should have a separate time block for sports, a joint program with friends and time for me or even for reading. Be very specific, so when you write me the time, specify exactly what it means to you, and what kind of action it involves, so that you can make good use of the time allotted for it.
- The Pomodoro works with your attention in smaller units, in twenty-minute stages, with strict rules similar to the previous one. For this, of course, it is undoubtedly necessary not to be tempted and not to open another browser, not to look at Messenger, not to start a phone call, but also to finish the activity you started. (Trust me, there is nothing better and more peaceful than feeling closed off.)
- Link goal and method to consequences and reward with the help of the Forest app. In other words, every time you have a lawn, you have a virtual shrub/tree, so you can build and beautify your virtual garden. On the other hand, if something distracts you and disturbs your garden, one of your plants will die.
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Organizational psychologist Lila Kertész also believes in focused attention, especially in the age of digital distraction. According to him, single-tasking, that is, when you pay attention to one thing at a time, is essential in terms of efficiency and your well-being.
Attention is advanced
You can rightly point out that this is all well and good, but what if the company you work for, due to its current system, processes and culture, throws tasks at you in some kind of rush, so even if you are using the time blocking method to no avail, something is always bothering you. As we wrote in our GLAMOR Career Tuesday series, you don’t have to be a leader to make a difference in the life of a company. True leadership means having an impact on your environment. Start small and suggest changes that you think will benefit your productivity at a team level. Don’t forget that as long as you are firm, take into account the other party’s point of view, and strive to reach a solution, you can report anything to your superiors.
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For example, Reed Hastings, co-founder of Netflix, bluntly said in his book The No Rules that while many companies turn away people who provide honest feedback, Netflix values them. He supported his claim by saying that There is much less intra-company conspiracies and, he says, backstabbing, if people feel they can express their opinions openly, Because it has no negative consequences. And last but not least, thanks to feedback, people learn faster and progress faster.
Big air, start!
We’re not promising that it will be easy to live without multitasking, but you will have much greater success if you try to use your attention, your greatest asset, more deeply and consciously. Kevin Horsley explains it so perfectly in his book Remembering Everything that we allow it to be burned into our retinas here too: “Sharpen your mind by getting back into the habit of doing one thing at a time. Rediscover the value of solving sequential tasks rather than compromising on quality in solving simultaneous tasks. Great result is always born from frequent and deep periods of concentration. Scattered attention never produces excellent work. When You will be there with all your personality, your mental strength and other resources will be there in full.
