In the whirlwind of our hectic work lives, we all wear the multitasking superhero badge with pride. Switching between tabs, hopping in and out of meetings, and managing a parade of conversations across platforms - plus, let’s not forget the never-ending flood of WhatsApp messages, all while pretending to be laser-focused. It's like trying to juggle flaming torches while riding a unicycle - entertaining for a while, but you know it's a recipe for disaster. And we all do it daily, without batting an eye. Instead of sitting down and devoting quality time to one task, we work in bite-sized chunks of 15-20 minutes. It's like our workday has turned into a series of speed-dating sessions with tasks - "Hi, task A! Nice to meet you! Oh, it's been 15 minutes already? Gotta go meet task B now!" We're in a constant reaction mode. And hey, we're proud of it, right? "I'm the multitasking master!" you declare, patting yourself on the back. Well, brace yourself for a reality check. Multi-tasking? It’s a myth. You don’t actually multitask. You think that you’re doing a whole bunch of things at once, but you are not, because the brain doesn’t work that way. The science backs it up. Studies from brainiacs at MIT and Earl Miller's lab have shown that you're not multitasking. You're just hopping between tasks like a hyperactive frog on a caffeine high. Your brain divides its attention into little bits and pieces, thinking you're an all-seeing, all-knowing multitasker when, in reality, you're a frantic task switcher. Remember that TED talk by Jason Fried, the co-founder of 37signals? He asks a killer question: “Why doesn't work actually happen at work?” In his own words… I've been asking people this question for about 10 years: "Where do you go when you really need to get something done?" I'll hear things like the porch, the deck, the kitchen. I'll hear things like an extra room in the house, the basement, the coffee shop, the library. And then you'll hear things like the train, a plane, a car -- so, the commute. And then you'll hear people say, "Well, it doesn't really matter where I am, as long as it's early in the morning or late at night or on the weekends." You almost never hear someone say, "The office." But businesses are spending all this money on this place called the office, and they're making people go to it all the time, yet people don't do work in the office. What is that about? ...People go to work, and they're basically trading in their work day for a series of "work moments" -- that's what happens at the office. You don't have a work day anymore. You have work moments. It's like the front door of the office is like a Cuisinart, and you walk in and your day is shredded to bits, because you have 15 minutes here, 30 minutes there, and something else happens, you're pulled off your work, then you have 20 minutes, then it's lunch, then you have something else to do ... Then you've got 15 minutes, and someone pulls you aside and asks you a question, and before you know it, it's 5 p.m., and you look back on the day, and you realize that you didn't get anything done...And what you find is that, especially with creative people -- designers, programmers, writers, engineers, thinkers -- people really need long stretches of uninterrupted time to get something done. You cannot ask somebody to be creative in 15 minutes and really think about a problem. You might have a quick idea, but to be in deep thought about a problem and really consider a problem carefully, you need long stretches of uninterrupted time. And even though the work day is typically eight hours, how many people here have ever had eight hours to themselves at the office? How about seven hours? Six? Five? Four? When's the last time you had three hours to yourself at the office? Two hours? One, maybe? Context switching is the villain here, and it comes at a high cost. It wrecks your day, slices your flow into bits, and makes you as thin as a ghost. Deep work? Forget about it. Productivity takes a nosedive, and mistakes pile up like dirty laundry. Hat tip to Jason Yip’s for this image.
The brain guru, Dr. Jane Burka, nails it: "Contextualizing requires more effort than simply remembering." For some simple tasks, switching takes a fraction of a second. But most of the work you do at your desk? That's brain-intensive stuff. It takes minutes or even hours to dive back into the zone after a context switch. That's like your brain slamming on the brakes every time you change lanes on the highway. It's exhausting, and it adds up as Henrik Kniberg elegantly demonstrated in this video. Also, here you can see what it looks like in real life when managers focus on keeping people busy. The good news is that evolution is always in motion and our brains adapt all the time. The change is a bit sluggish, though. It takes about 20,000 years (give or take a few) for it to catch up with the way the environment is. It's more like a sloth trying to keep up with Usain Bolt. So, in the meantime, how about we stick to the good old "one thing at a time" approach?
PS. Do you struggle to set yourself apart from your competitors? Does your tone of voice lack a little personality? Either way, get in touch and I’ll help you become remarkable. Or get more communication advice that doesn't suck here.
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