The Multitasking Myth.

As human beings, we tend to overestimate our capabilities in certain areas – our ability to multitask is one of them. The simple truth is we are biologically incapable of doing anything like it, and are only fooling ourselves when we think we can. Most of what we call multitasking is in fact very quickly switching from one task to the next, like reading our e-mail while having a phone conversation with someone. More often than not, we end up doing both things very poorly.

Losing hours per day ?

Damon Young, author of “Distraction” claims we lose about a minute every time we switch from one thing to another. “When we move from our job to an e-mail, it takes about a minute to recover our train of thought. And then we get another e-mail, or an SMS, so our concentration is fractured. The result? We’re not really multi-tasking. We’re switching between tasks in an unfocused or clumsy way.”

So, another way which I have personally found to be extremely effective in increasing my own performance is to do one thing at a time, and see it through until completion. For several hours per day I turn off my e-mail, turn my phone to silent and dedicate myself to a single task until I have completed it (or part of it).

I have found it not only helps my concentration, but actually helps me get more done faster. And the end result is invariably far better than it would have been had I been switching back and forth between tasks.

Probably 98% of people have the ability to turn off their phone for 1-2 hours per day, especially early in the morning or at the end of the workday.

Try it for a few days, and see what happens.