Many people think that multi-tasking is a positive characteristic. Most believe that they are more productive by tackling more than one task at a time. While the thought is noble, the reality is that this is not always the case. Recent studies show that multi-tasking is bad for productivity and bad for your mental state.
When multitasking, our brain undergoes a stop-start process over and over again as we keep on doing more tasks. The fast task switching makes us think we are doing two things at the same time. The truth is our attention is only divided. We all know that when we divide our attention, things do not go the way we want it.
You are not saving time when you multitask. The millisecond that it takes to switch from one process to another leads to several seconds or even minutes for your mind to re-focus. Thus, the total time you spend doing two tasks together through multitasking is longer than when you do them separately.
In addition to multitasking decreasing productivity, it can also drain your brain. The frequent changing of tasks can be tiring to your brain and can lead to increased mistakes. Increased mistakes can lead to a lack of confidence. Lack of confidence can lead to increased mistakes. It’s a viscous cycle.
Multi-tasking can slow down our cognitive processing. According to neuroscience, the best way to maximize the use of our brain is through focusing on one task at a time. When we provide undivided attention to something that we do, the more we excel in doing it. It is best to focus because it makes us do our task efficiently and quickly. Say goodbye to standard outputs. If you concentrate on one task at a time, you will notice a difference in the quality of work you do.
