Don't Multitask – It Doesn't Save Time
I saw a friend read a newspaper as he was walking down the street the other day. “Dangerous,” I called out to him, as he neared a corner to cross the street. “It's boring just to walk,” he yelled without lifting his eyes off the paper. He was multitasking, the way we are a lot these days: talking on the cell phone while in the car, checking email while we're cooking, watching the news “with one eye” while working. I once drove while reading a book (the road was deserted, but still...) So, is it worth it? Does it save us time? Is it efficient?
A growing body of research, as reported in the New York Times, and elsewhere is suggesting that multitasking offers no advantages at all.
“Multitasking is going to slow you down, increasing the chances of mistakes,” David E. Meyer, a cognitive scientist and director of the Brain, Cognition and Action Laboratory at the University of Michigan told the Times.
Similarly, the brain may be a powerful organic machine, but it has a “core limitation” of being unable to concentrate on two things at once, René Marois, a neuroscientist and director of the Human Information Processing Laboratory at Vanderbilt University, told the Times.
So, what do the experts advise?
1. Check email messages once an hour, at most. Research shows that people take about fifteen minutes to recover from a single email interruption.
2. Don’t rely too much on memory. Use to-do lists to unload tasks and ideas from your memory, and then revisit those lists when you’re fully ready to move onto the next task.
3. Listen to soothing background music while studying but not songs with lyrics.
4. Don't drive while talking on a cellphone, even with a hands-free headset.
5. Don’t do too much. Focus your efforts on tasks and projects that produce strong revenue, and say no to those that don’t.
Comments
As this subject relates to driving and work, I totally agree. While I'm guilty of reading and walking, I've made the rule; My time is not worth my life.
Good idea. I'm off to cancel my Seeking Alpha alerts...
Don't do that! Take the time to read them - and then use them one by one!
I totally agree, if you can convince yourself to focus on one thing at a time you will reduce stress as well.