Do you believe you’re great because you can multitask? Do you think that’s a strength or a weakness? What if I told you that our brains are not designed to multitask? What if I told you that it would be wrong to believe that multitasking is a strength?
In my job I could have over 50 tasks needing to be completed/ actioned/ worked on at the same time. Before I discovered how my brain works and how to get the best out of it I believed that being a great multitasker was why I was getting things done. I was incredibly busy, but not effective. What I started to realise is that due to me multitasking I was jumping between tasks, doing them, but never really doing them properly. I was getting to the end of the day and realising that my brain was exhausted. I couldn’t focus on anything else. I felt as if I had no energy to talk to people or do anything other than crash in front of the TV. Have you felt this way too? I bet you have. I see it every day in the people I work with, people I spend time with and people I talk to.
There is this expectation in society that in order to be successful in your career you need to do lots. Just more and more. This expectation goes back to poor management techniques used in manufacturing periods where the human element was not recognised, only mechanical processes (To learn more about this explore my book).
Also, here’s a thought for you, why does you feel the need to juggle multiple things at once? Is it to prove that you can do a lot? Is it to prove your worth? If your answer it along those lines then you reasoning for multitasking and struggling is driven from a place of ego. If you can overcome this and focus on less, you will achieve more and demonstrate a greater sense of confidence.
Ever heard the saying less is more?
This expectation is wrong as the most successful people aren’t those who do more and more and more all at the same time. They focus on a small number of things and do them well!
Why?
This is because our brains are millions of years old and are designed to focus on one thing at a time. By multitasking you are working your brain in a way it is not designed too. Similar to how wind forces can cause stress in the structure of a building (the engineering side of me), by multitasking you are putting your brain under stresses it is not designed for.
By consistently multitasking you are exhausting your brain which means you are not working at the optimum level which causes you stress and in some cases anxiety (click here to read my blog about managing work related stress).
What do I mean by this?
For example, imagine yourself at dinner with your husband or wife. During dinner your partner is telling you about their day, but at the same time you’re texting your friend. Are you connecting with your partner or are you disconnecting?
Now imagine yourself at home watching a movie, but at the same time you’re scrolling through social media. Are you really enjoying the movie or are you disconnected?
Remember that time at work where you were working on that difficult task, but instead of focusing on it you kept checking your emails and responding to nonsense. Are you really working to the best of your ability or are you disconnected?
That is what happens when we try to multitask. We cannot fully connect with the task at hand. This creates bigger problems in our lives. We start to disconnect from our family, friends and other relationships. We disconnect from reality. We don’t perform as well as we should be doing. Our brains are working overtime, all the time. This causes us stress, anxiety, physical health issues, work performance issues and we restrict ourselves from living our lives to the full.
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What to do?
It’s important for me to note that I am not a medical practitioner. The tool I will share with you is what worked for me and transformed my life. By doing this, I saw significant growth in my career, I became more efficient and effective, I built stronger relationships with my friends and family, I discovered my passion, I had more time and energy, I become happier and healthier and I am enjoying life more.
So what is this magical tool? To be honest, there’s nothing magical about it. The tool is to go back basics. Slow everything right down. Stop focusing on 10 things at the same time and focus on one thing at a time.
Focus on your partner. Focus on the task. Focus on you.
Thanks for reading, JT.
How to reference this page
Toor, J. (2020). Is multitasking a weakness? Available at: https://pmgrowth.co/is-multitasking-a-weakness?