The myth of Multi-Tasking (and why Single-Tasking is so awesome)
By: Dr. Greg Wells
Tags: Performance, Mental Health, Focus, Concentration, Multitasking

In previous newsletters, we’ve discussed strategies to increase focus and how you can try to eliminate distractions as much as possible. One of the strategies we’ve discussed is Power Work, in which for a period of time a few times per day, you are focusing on your most important task and only your most important task until you get the job done or your Power Work period is over. This is also known as single tasking, which is an extremely powerful tool for you to use. If you can learn how to single task, you can uplevel your focus and boost your productivity.

So why is single tasking so effective? It all comes down to how your brain works! But first, let’s talk about what most of us do these days: multitasking.

In today’s world there are way too many distractions. We are constantly bombarded by technology. Emails, text messages, and social media all compete with our attention while we’re trying to work. This problem has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic as many of us are working from home and having to deal with a whole new set of distractions. With so many electronic devices and stimuli competing for our attention, we’re not able to focus on something properly and get it done well. This overstimulation and lack of productivity is affecting our mental health. We are more stressed, burnt out, and tired than ever before.

Here’s why multitasking doesn’t work:

When we think, problem solve, or create memories, the brain needs oxygen and nutrients in order for it to work. Like every other tissue in our body, to do this there needs to be an increase in blood supply. However, this increase in blood flow can’t go to the entire brain at the same time — the blood is directed towards the areas of the brain responsible for a certain task. If we try to multitask, we end up shifting the blood flow between locations and never giving the brain what it needs to get a single job done properly. This is called task-shifting, and it’s very ineffective and takes up a lot of energy.

These days, it has become the norm to multitask. However, multitasking is hugely detrimental to our productivity and quality of work. Multitasking slows us down, increases the probability of mistakes, and it’s affecting our mental health.

It’s time to pivot from multitasking to single tasking. This isn’t easy, however there are ways to manage distractions as much as possible so you can focus on your most important tasks both at work and at home. There are two basic steps when starting to implement single tasking into your life:

1. First you need to become aware of when and how often you find yourself multitasking. Spend some time making a list of all the things that distract you during a typical workday such as email, social media, socializing, or surfing websites. You might get distracted by one, two, or all of these things. Make a note of when you get distracted and why.

2. Once you know what your biggest distractors are, you can come up with a plan to eliminate distractions and consciously remove the barriers that are preventing you from single-tasking. For example, when you’re at work, if email is a big distractor, turn off email notifications while you’re trying to get an important task done during Power Work. If you’re at home and want to spend time with loved ones, turn off work-related notifications and focus on your family.

Here are some more ideas for you:

Schedule your Power Work. Set aside blocks of time (no more than an hour and a half in duration) in which you are working on your most important task and only that task before moving on to the next.

Disable all notifications. During your Power Work, ensure that no notifications will distract you on your computer and phone, and that your ringer is set to silent.

Batch emails. Given how many emails most of us get each day, “email batching”, or dedicating certain periods of the day to checking and responding to emails, can help minimize distraction during the day. Determine the best times of the day to check your email and then create a schedule for yourself to batch your emails into specific blocks of time (and not during Power Work!). For some of you, we realize that emails are a bigger part of your work, and you might need to check emails more regularly. However for most of us checking emails every twenty minutes is not necessary and incredibly inefficient.

Meditate before Power Work. Just a few minutes of meditation can help your mind get in “the zone” for the work period ahead. Check out our previous blog on the benefits of meditation and how to get started if you’ve never tried it before!

Healthy breaks. Scheduling breaks into your day is just as important as scheduling in your Power Work! Being productive requires the balance between very intense, super-focused work, interspersed with healthy breaks. This enables you to be ultra-productive when you’re working and then gives you time to recover so you’re ready for your next intense work period. A healthy break is device-free time, in which you’re doing something that will boost your health and productivity, such as a quick walk or grabbing a healthy snack that will refuel your brain in preparation for the next work period. When choosing that healthy snack, avoid processed foods and high-sugar foods. Instead nourish your body with foods that will give your body the nutrients it needs to perform at its best, including protein, fibre, and healthy fats.

If you’re using the VIIVIO app, you can use it to track your focus each day in the Mindfulness section of your Think score! Manually enter how focused you are on key tasks a few times per day and then look back at how you did each day this week.

What are we finding in the research?

A recent study aimed to look at inefficiencies and associated labour costs in the workplace. To do this, they measured productivity loss at a major US manufacturer. Their analysis revealed that the annual cost of productivity loss at this company was approximately $300 million, and that employee distractedness accounted for 93.6% of this loss!

While this is just a case study of one company, this is a good example of how powerful and detrimental distraction can be in the workplace. We can never completely eliminate distraction, however by learning how to manage it through simple strategies such as single tasking, we can amplify our productivity, use our time more efficiently, decrease our stress, have better work-life balance, and improve our mental health.

You can read the full article here.