Myths about multitasking, or How our brain reacts to it
For most of us, performing multiple tasks at the same time makes us less productive. So why the hell is it so hard for us to concentrate on one single thing?
We all know well that in order to work effectively you need to focus on one thing and avoid multitasking with all your strength. And nevertheless, somehow we forget about it, having dinner in front of the TV screen with the laptop open on our lap. We write letters, we look through news feeds, we look in on Facebook and Twitter, we communicate in chat rooms - all this simultaneously with the fulfillment of our main task. And in spite of everything, deep down in our souls, we are convinced that we are able to cope with all this heap of multitasking without harm to our productivity, well, or, perhaps, with minimal losses.
')
Recently, I started my new work project, which is aimed at "one-task". The results of my work in the “not all at once” mode simply amazed me, which is why I decided to delve into the study of this issue. It was interesting for me to understand what was going on in our heads and to get an answer to a question that had long been concerning me:
Why do we even do several things at once? Why do we develop the habit of grabbing everything at once?
I found astounding research results and the answer to my urgent question turned out to be simple, if not prosaic: It gives us moral satisfaction.
But the irony is that people who do a lot of things at the same time, despite the statistics that break the faith in multitasking, feel very productive and for the most part firmly convinced that Julius Caesar himself will easily surpass. And when we see such a self-confident person, we want to be like him. And why are we worse? No sooner said than done. And now, imperceptibly for ourselves, we smoothly master the art of multitasking, at first with difficulty “hanging” on ourselves new and new things, then we get used to and rejoice in the feeling that we have known Zen and entered the league of super-productive people. At this time, daily productivity is only declining, as studies have shown.
The most interesting thing is that our brain is completely not adapted to multitasking. When we have dinner, we communicate on Facebook and in parallel we look through news feeds, our “main thinker” does not focus on all these actions at the same time - on the contrary, he frantically tries to switch between the various activities that we have loaded on him.
In the image below, you can see the different activities of the brain when performing several actions and how it switches between tasks when you concentrate on each case a few seconds at a time.
A researcher at Stanford University Clifford Nass (Clifford Nass) suggested that those people who do a lot of things at the same time, in any case, develop some other amazing abilities. It seemed to him that they should be excellent in sorting information and fast switching between tasks, and also must have a good short-term memory.
Sadly, but as a result of his research, Professor Nass discovered that all his assumptions were wrong - none of the three was confirmed:
People who are often engaged in everything at once, worse filter out useless information and transfer the attention from task to task much slower compared to those who are focused on one thing.
Most studies show that this practice is very harmful for us - not only our productivity suffers, but also the ability to filter out unnecessary information.
I noticed all this before thoroughly studying this topic. And in order to increase the productivity of my work again, I decided to dot the “i”, streamlining all my work processes (special attention was paid to online work) and banning multitasking once and for all.
Before I learned about everything that I described at the beginning of the article, I already had enough problems with trying to do everything at once. Usually, while I was working, I had Google Chrome with a lot of tabs, two mail windows, Facebook, and an instant messaging program. With all this wealth, I felt pounded and could not concentrate properly - my brains exploded, but the work reluctantly crawled forward at a snail's pace. I needed to get it over with immediately and start working effectively. To combat the multitasking fever, I had to say goodbye to my usual working rhythm and create for myself a number of rules:
As you might have guessed, this strategy is that I limit myself to only one tab in the browser - this is how I have to set priorities and work with the task that is most important to me.
I will describe this with an example. Some of my key tasks are writing emails, chatting, tweets and blog posts. I used to open it all at once, but now I work with each in turn: when I finish one thing, I close the active tab and move on to the next one.
This is real and effective only in conjunction with another important point:
Thanks to this rule, my idea of ​​working with only one tab in the browser did not remain just a ghostly fantasy, but became a very real fact and even grew into a habit. Every evening I sit down and brainstorm on what I need to do tomorrow. This is not my invention - this technique is quite common, and perhaps you yourself have been doing something similar for a long time.
In my own case, I made changes to the idea of ​​making a to-do list: at the end of the working day, I discuss my tasks with our CEO, and this led to serious improvements in productivity.
Now, instead of semi-automatically scribbling a list of tasks, I need to think about them and be ready to explain to another why I chose these goals, and, most importantly, how I will come to them. And thanks to this, I got a better understanding of what exactly I will be busy during each next working day and each project is more clearly outlined in my head - and this is already half the work. You can cooperate with colleagues for such 10 minutes - this is useful for your productivity, and it’s just great to chat and discuss your projects.
This is a product that not only helps me to set goals, but also to approach them methodically. In many articles on productivity and achievement of goals, it is said that in order to successfully accomplish all of our plans, you need to share your ideas with other people, loudly state your undertakings. The SmartProgress service gives this opportunity. It helps to gain an outline of what was once only ghostly ideas. In the community there are necessarily those people who are happy to give advice and can share their experience in achieving the goals that I still have to reach.
But what motivates the most is the need to report on its progress. The notorious fear of failure and condemnation, which often stands in the way of success, which sits in the subconscious of modern man, plays into my hands, entrenched in our subconscious Unwillingness to admit publicly that I failed, showed weakness and did not keep myself this promise, pushes me forward. Going to goals is not easy, and therefore it is especially important to ensure that your motivation is enough for the whole way from beginning to end.
This is something that really helps me work productively and stay focused on one task. We often hear that we need a comfortable workplace. As it turned out, I need a lot of such places so that after the end of one task I could change the scenery and start something new. I tried to take 5-minute breaks, close the laptop and go for coffee or something like that - does not help. Therefore, the usual part of my daily work routine has become a change of place. I mainly work at home in the morning, then I go to a cafe. I even have a list of coffee shops where I can continue to work for the company, but in a different atmosphere. I know that this opportunity is not available to everyone, but this rule could be useful for those who, like me, have remote work.
And finally, a lyrical digression (I want to please music lovers, whom I myself belong to the army): listening to music while working is not multitasking, which will undermine your efficiency. Professor Clifford Nass, already known to us, mentioned that "a special part of our brain is responsible for listening to music, so that we can listen to our favorite songs while doing something else." Well-chosen music can even increase our productivity.
How do you feel about performing several tasks at the same time while working online? Do you have mechanisms that help you deal with what distracts you? What are you doing to avoid multitasking?
The post is based on the original article and personal observations of the author.
PS If you do not have an account in Habré, you can express your opinion on this article in our blog - SmartTalks
We all know well that in order to work effectively you need to focus on one thing and avoid multitasking with all your strength. And nevertheless, somehow we forget about it, having dinner in front of the TV screen with the laptop open on our lap. We write letters, we look through news feeds, we look in on Facebook and Twitter, we communicate in chat rooms - all this simultaneously with the fulfillment of our main task. And in spite of everything, deep down in our souls, we are convinced that we are able to cope with all this heap of multitasking without harm to our productivity, well, or, perhaps, with minimal losses.
')
Recently, I started my new work project, which is aimed at "one-task". The results of my work in the “not all at once” mode simply amazed me, which is why I decided to delve into the study of this issue. It was interesting for me to understand what was going on in our heads and to get an answer to a question that had long been concerning me:
Why do we even do several things at once? Why do we develop the habit of grabbing everything at once?
I found astounding research results and the answer to my urgent question turned out to be simple, if not prosaic: It gives us moral satisfaction.
But the irony is that people who do a lot of things at the same time, despite the statistics that break the faith in multitasking, feel very productive and for the most part firmly convinced that Julius Caesar himself will easily surpass. And when we see such a self-confident person, we want to be like him. And why are we worse? No sooner said than done. And now, imperceptibly for ourselves, we smoothly master the art of multitasking, at first with difficulty “hanging” on ourselves new and new things, then we get used to and rejoice in the feeling that we have known Zen and entered the league of super-productive people. At this time, daily productivity is only declining, as studies have shown.
How does the human brain respond to multitasking?
The most interesting thing is that our brain is completely not adapted to multitasking. When we have dinner, we communicate on Facebook and in parallel we look through news feeds, our “main thinker” does not focus on all these actions at the same time - on the contrary, he frantically tries to switch between the various activities that we have loaded on him.
In the image below, you can see the different activities of the brain when performing several actions and how it switches between tasks when you concentrate on each case a few seconds at a time.
A researcher at Stanford University Clifford Nass (Clifford Nass) suggested that those people who do a lot of things at the same time, in any case, develop some other amazing abilities. It seemed to him that they should be excellent in sorting information and fast switching between tasks, and also must have a good short-term memory.
Sadly, but as a result of his research, Professor Nass discovered that all his assumptions were wrong - none of the three was confirmed:
“We were just shocked. We were all wrong. It turned out that those who do several things at the same time are simply terrible in all aspects of multitasking. ”
People who are often engaged in everything at once, worse filter out useless information and transfer the attention from task to task much slower compared to those who are focused on one thing.
Most studies show that this practice is very harmful for us - not only our productivity suffers, but also the ability to filter out unnecessary information.
I noticed all this before thoroughly studying this topic. And in order to increase the productivity of my work again, I decided to dot the “i”, streamlining all my work processes (special attention was paid to online work) and banning multitasking once and for all.
How I built my workflow, which is based on the sequential execution of tasks
Before I learned about everything that I described at the beginning of the article, I already had enough problems with trying to do everything at once. Usually, while I was working, I had Google Chrome with a lot of tabs, two mail windows, Facebook, and an instant messaging program. With all this wealth, I felt pounded and could not concentrate properly - my brains exploded, but the work reluctantly crawled forward at a snail's pace. I needed to get it over with immediately and start working effectively. To combat the multitasking fever, I had to say goodbye to my usual working rhythm and create for myself a number of rules:
1. One tab in the browser
As you might have guessed, this strategy is that I limit myself to only one tab in the browser - this is how I have to set priorities and work with the task that is most important to me.
I will describe this with an example. Some of my key tasks are writing emails, chatting, tweets and blog posts. I used to open it all at once, but now I work with each in turn: when I finish one thing, I close the active tab and move on to the next one.
This is real and effective only in conjunction with another important point:
2. Drawing up a plan
Thanks to this rule, my idea of ​​working with only one tab in the browser did not remain just a ghostly fantasy, but became a very real fact and even grew into a habit. Every evening I sit down and brainstorm on what I need to do tomorrow. This is not my invention - this technique is quite common, and perhaps you yourself have been doing something similar for a long time.
In my own case, I made changes to the idea of ​​making a to-do list: at the end of the working day, I discuss my tasks with our CEO, and this led to serious improvements in productivity.
Now, instead of semi-automatically scribbling a list of tasks, I need to think about them and be ready to explain to another why I chose these goals, and, most importantly, how I will come to them. And thanks to this, I got a better understanding of what exactly I will be busy during each next working day and each project is more clearly outlined in my head - and this is already half the work. You can cooperate with colleagues for such 10 minutes - this is useful for your productivity, and it’s just great to chat and discuss your projects.
3. Setting Goals with SmartProgress
This is a product that not only helps me to set goals, but also to approach them methodically. In many articles on productivity and achievement of goals, it is said that in order to successfully accomplish all of our plans, you need to share your ideas with other people, loudly state your undertakings. The SmartProgress service gives this opportunity. It helps to gain an outline of what was once only ghostly ideas. In the community there are necessarily those people who are happy to give advice and can share their experience in achieving the goals that I still have to reach.
But what motivates the most is the need to report on its progress. The notorious fear of failure and condemnation, which often stands in the way of success, which sits in the subconscious of modern man, plays into my hands, entrenched in our subconscious Unwillingness to admit publicly that I failed, showed weakness and did not keep myself this promise, pushes me forward. Going to goals is not easy, and therefore it is especially important to ensure that your motivation is enough for the whole way from beginning to end.
4. Change of scenery (at least once a day)
This is something that really helps me work productively and stay focused on one task. We often hear that we need a comfortable workplace. As it turned out, I need a lot of such places so that after the end of one task I could change the scenery and start something new. I tried to take 5-minute breaks, close the laptop and go for coffee or something like that - does not help. Therefore, the usual part of my daily work routine has become a change of place. I mainly work at home in the morning, then I go to a cafe. I even have a list of coffee shops where I can continue to work for the company, but in a different atmosphere. I know that this opportunity is not available to everyone, but this rule could be useful for those who, like me, have remote work.
And finally, a lyrical digression (I want to please music lovers, whom I myself belong to the army): listening to music while working is not multitasking, which will undermine your efficiency. Professor Clifford Nass, already known to us, mentioned that "a special part of our brain is responsible for listening to music, so that we can listen to our favorite songs while doing something else." Well-chosen music can even increase our productivity.
How do you feel about performing several tasks at the same time while working online? Do you have mechanisms that help you deal with what distracts you? What are you doing to avoid multitasking?
The post is based on the original article and personal observations of the author.
PS If you do not have an account in Habré, you can express your opinion on this article in our blog - SmartTalks
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/294540/
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