Is multitasking slowing you down?

Years ago, Nat proudly proclaimed to a coworker how good she was at multitasking, only for him to look confused.

“You know multitasking is a myth, right?”

Nope.

Women are told our entire lives that we’re great multitaskers, highly skilled at doing many things simultaneously. It’s a lie. What we’re really doing is context-switching very, very quickly. And, if you’ve ever tried to do anything very quickly, you’ll know what it leads to. Exhaustion.

We are humans, not computers

The term ‘multitasking’ originated in computer science in the 1960s. For the first time, machines could simultaneously execute multiple processes. They may have taken up entire rooms, but robots could already do something humans can’t: two things at once.

Disagree? You’re correct. We juggle multiple tasks – we walk and text, cook and listen, or drive and chat. We can simultaneously take on these tasks as long as our habitual system manages one of them. Our unconscious brains can complete one ‘automated’ task while another takes our conscious attention. 

Don’t feel too smug, though. Those were actually all great examples of how terrible we are at multitasking. When the unexpected happens (which it usually does!), we need to switch out of autopilot and use our cognitive powers. When those powers are already allocated to something else (texting, podcasts, conversations), they aren’t available. Unless we quickly switch focus, we will all bump into other walkers, burn the toast, or crash the car.

Hustle culture, busyness and burnout

Like busyness, multitasking has become a badge of honour. But take that badge off; it’s a fake. 

While there are huge benefits in going out for a walk and getting lost in thought, context switching is usually bad for us. It slows us down, increases mistakes and tires us out. 

Workplaces aren’t good at multitasking either

The same colleague who broke the multi-tasking myth to Nat is the inventor of a great game that teaches Kanban methodology to product teams. Kanban is a workflow management framework that originated from an engineer at Toyota in the 1940s. In the years since, technology companies have heavily adopted it in pursuit of boosted productivity.

One of the key principles of Kanban is reducing the amount of work in progress. Instead of getting stuck in the chaos of half-done tasks, teams finish fewer tasks faster and then quickly move on to the next ones.

Playing the game, it became obvious that workplaces fall for the same myth about multitasking as individuals do. After a clear lesson on the futility of taking on too many tasks, most teams immediately defaulted to solving the problem of overwhelm… By taking on even more.

Inevitably, work ground to a virtual halt with bottlenecks, complex dependencies and key people being spread too thin.

Mono-tasking for the win

Half the Powrsuit team is guilty of ‘multitasking’ (aka shopping, checking emails, or doing other work) during meetings. The other half is probably delusional. Neither of us can extract ourselves from Instagram’s draw while watching TV. And yes, both of us text and walk. 

Powrsuit isn’t about being perfect; it’s about creating a habit of continuous improvement, so we are going to try this approach to busting the myth of multitasking:

1/ Be aware of your bad habits

Pay attention to the situations where you take on two or more things at once. In some cases, it might not matter (who cares if it takes more time to bring in the laundry?), but what situations aren’t serving you?

2/ Get better at prioritising

We believe that cutting a clear path through the noise leads to a happier, healthier and more productive life. So, embrace a weekly or daily practice of prioritisation. We know multitasking is often a response to taking on too much, so challenge yourself to say no to anything that needlessly clutters your plate.

3/ Make time to focus

There are opportunities every day to retrain our brains to monotask. From deep work and calendar hacks to leaving your phone in your pocket while waiting for a meeting to start, start small and actively try to focus on just one thing—even if it’s just for 5 minutes!

By doing less, you achieve more

In an attention economy, the concept of doing less may seem counterintuitive. We feel like we need to multitask to get everything done, but we’re really just tricking ourselves into thinking we’re productive while falling further behind.

If you’re feeling overloaded, overwhelmed, and over it, maybe it’s time to give monotasking a whirl.