When Multitasking Is a Bad Idea
It’s hard to keep all your eggs up in the air, but a little multitasking can help – until you drop them to the floor because you’ve also tried to reply to text or something. There are times when doing two things at the same time makes you less efficient than focusing on one task. Here’s how to find out when it happened.
As is often the case, today’s responses come through a well-structured flowchart put together by Fast Company. The table breaks down the types of tasks that people tend to stack on top of each other, into categories denoted 1, 2, and 3, one of which is suitable for multitasking, and three is the restricted area. This is a bit of common sense, but maybe not something that we can clearly think about when we are doing a bunch of projects.
1. Take action
These are tasks that are supportive and non-distracting. For example, take notes during a meeting or analyze data as you enter it. They also include “intermittent focus” tasks such as making a phone call and then pausing to take notes of the call later. You can also stop what you are doing in order to complete something that distracts you and makes it impossible to work.
To be honest, it all sounds like separate tasks to me, not like multitasking. It is, of course, relatively easy to stop what you are doing and do something else. The problem may be not to be distracted by task after task. The most useful advice here might be to plan what you will combine in advance, while deliberately considering how productive layering is.
2. Proceed with caution
This is where things get tricky. Did you email during the meeting? Working on something else while talking to a client on the phone? Sitting on an important panel and fiddling with notes? You risk missing out on something, no matter how confident you are that your inbox is more important than the people in front of you. It is also a bad idea to do multiple tasks at the same time when solving something complex like a contract. You don’t want to accidentally sell your soul.
Think about what you tend to distract at work, and if this is a behavior you can put aside. This may make your life more difficult than it can make it easier.
3. Don’t even think about it
This is a surprisingly useful category. Fast Company does not believe you should be doing multiple tasks at the same time if you are trying to do the following important things: relaxing or spending time with your family. Don’t check your work email or call clients when you’re with people who are important to you outside of work. It’s cute, although it may be difficult for many.
They also say that doing multiple tasks at the same time is a bad idea when the business in front of you is extremely important and requires all your focus, such as a job interview. It wouldn’t look the best. Also, don’t text or drive – but we all know that, right? Again, this seems like common sense, but many of us try to do too many things at the same time. Pick your focus and stick to it, then pause and check out social media. You deserved it.
You can see it all here .