The Myth of Multitasking and Why It Doesn’t Work

You know those days when you’re on a call, replying to an email, and unjamming your printer simultaneously? We’ve all been there and perhaps even taken pride in our ability to multitask, wearing it as a badge of honor among busy professionals who can supposedly get more done in the 24 hours we all have in a day. 

While multitasking might feel productive in the moment, there’s proof that spreading your brainpower across too many tasks at once actually hinders how much you can get done. 

The Evolution of Multitasking

The concept of multitasking isn’t new. Long before digital business practices stomped onto the scene, workers had been finding ways to handle multiple tasks simultaneously, whether a shopkeeper keeping an eye on several customers or a secretary clacking away on their typewriters while managing incoming messages. 

Fast forward to today, and the multitasking demands have only increased. Technology puts us in a position where we’re constantly bombarded with information and requests, as the lines between tasks become blurred and often make us feel like everything is urgent and needs our immediate attention.

It’s easy to see why multitasking has become so ingrained in our modern work culture. There’s a prevailing sense that staying busy and always being “on’” is synonymous with being an effective and successful person. The narrative leaves little room for interpretation: If you want to succeed, you must do more and do it all at once.

But as with many deeply entrenched beliefs, it’s our job as leaders to step back and ask if the emerging evidence truly supports that idea. Does handling multiple tasks simultaneously lead to better outcomes, or are we spreading ourselves too thin without ever getting deep enough into our work to do it right?

The Science Behind Multitasking

Compared to other living creatures, the human brain seems like a master multitasker. Think of all the things you can do without even thinking about it– Breathing, walking, talking, and processing countless sources of sensory inputs without missing a beat.

It’s easy to assume, then, that our cognitive abilities would also shine when we’re handling tasks, but 

neuroscience reveals a different story. 

When we think we’re multitasking, we’re often just task-switching rapidly. No matter how minuscule, each switch requires our brain to engage, refocus, and adjust to the new task. While that may not sound like much work at a glance, those seconds add up throughout the day, leading to “cognitive fatigue,” a state in which our our brains tire out like a muscle would after a tough workout.

In a Stanford University study on multitasking, they found some startling results:

• People who regularly engage in several tasks at once performed worse on focus and memory tests than those who tackled one task at a time. 
• The multitaskers were also more susceptible to distractions because our brain pays the price for the continuous juggling.

Furthermore, when we divide our attention, the quality of our work can suffer. If you’ve ever read an email you sent while on a call only to notice you made several basic grammar mistakes or never answered the question from the original email, you’re experiencing the trade-off of multitasking in action. 

Something as low-risk as folding laundry while helping your kids with their homework reduces your ability to perform either task and results in dropping more clothing items!

Yet, it’s a hard habit to quit. We get a quick dopamine hit from completing small tasks because it feels good to check things off, even if they’re minor. The problem is that feeling productive and being productive are not necessarily the same thing. 

There is a difference between effective multitasking, like doing light exercise while working out a problem or catching up on a podcast, and ineffective multitasking, called task-switching, where the tasks require similar cognitive resources and have to compete for them. 

Task-switching is what really gets us in trouble in the office or at the shop, so we’ll shift our focus to the impact of the cognitive juggling act on our work.

The Real Impact on Business

When there’s always a new deadline coming up and a new order to fulfill, it’s clear why the temptation to multitask is one we often give in to. 

While it might seem like a solution to the overwhelming feeling of a never-ending to-do list, there’s a real cost associated with splitting your attention. 

Diminished Quality of Work

When our focus is scattered, the first victim is the quality and depth of our work. 

A report we treat to our undivided attention will always be more thorough and well-thought-out than one we write between answering phone calls and skimming emails. Whenever we switch between that report and another task, we open the door to missed details and overlooked errors. 

The Solution: Quality Over Quantity

Stop treating the number of tasks you can do simultaneously as a metric to celebrate. Instead, put value on the precision and accuracy of your work, which gives more meaning to our accomplishments and grants us a greater sense of satisfaction with a job well done.

Time Wasted:

It might seem counterintuitive, but multitasking can consume more time than it saves. A study by the American Psychological Association highlighted that switching between tasks can cause a 40% loss in productivity because the cognitive back-and-forth stretches the time needed to complete an individual task. 

The Solution: The Power of Singular Focus

There’s been a boon of popularity in the philosophies behind working in a state of “flow,” as popularized by psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. He has extensively studied how immersive focus and zeroing in on one task at a time lets us accomplish our to-do lists more efficiently.

Increased Stress

Juggling multiple tasks can raise stress levels as the constant feeling of needing to catch up, do more, and work faster drags us to the point of burnout. Over time, this heightened state of alertness can have long-term, detrimental effects on our mental health and lead to a condition called chronic work stress. 

The Solution: Embracing Downtime

Take a radical stance against hustle culture by taking breaks and giving yourself space to enjoy downtime. Rested minds are more creative and efficient, so rather than viewing downtime as lost time, consider it an investment in your productivity and well-being.

Tools and Techniques to Minimize Multitasking Temptation

While recognizing the pitfalls of multitasking is crucial, equipping oneself with tangible tools and strategies can make the transition to focused work smoother. Here are some tools and techniques designed to help reduce distractions and maintain singular focus:

Digital Tools:

• StayFocusd or Freedom are apps that limit how long you can spend on distracting websites so you don’t fall into the rabbit hole of scrolling through social media or Amazon when you should be working.
• Trello or Asana are task management tools that help you organize projects into more manageable chunks, set priorities so nothing gets overlooked, and give you the dopamine hit through visual progress monitoring. 
• RescueTime monitors how you spend your time on devices so you can be more self-aware of your digital habits and manage your distractions by simply recognizing them. 

Physical Workspace Arrangements:

• Dedicated work zones can cue our brains to focus on different behaviors by training you to automatically switch into “work mode” when you enter that space. 
• Adopt a clear desk policy because physical clutter can easily turn into mental clutter. A tidy workspace can reduce decision fatigue and let us focus more on the task at hand. 
• Noise-canceling headphones let you control your environment by eliminating auditory stimuli that vie for your cognitive resources. 

Time Management Techniques:

• Batch processing is a technique in which you group and tackle similar tasks in dedicated time blocks to reduce how many times you have to face the mental load of adjusting to new activies.
• Set specific communication hours for checking emails and joining calls rather than being perpetually available. Make those hours clearly defined in your calendar to set those boundaries visually to others involved in your scheduling. 

Final Thoughts

Professionals at any level can reap significant benefits to their productivity and work quality by breaking free from the idea of constant busyness.

Not sure where to start? Do you want to establish long-lasting habits and hold yourself accountable to them?

Start by contacting Lori Moen at Catalyst Group ECR and tapping into her experience helping business leaders and owners take control of their workflow.