Multitasking

Boss says, multitask. Wife says multitask. My mind also says multitask. But is it the pressure in the mind, from surrounding, from people we deal with are making a basic human capability of dealing with 1 important task at a time efficiently go for a toss. Well, depends on the tasks which are there in your hand. Read the section below to know the advantages and disadvantages of multitasking.

We cannot perform our tasks to the best of our power, unless we think well of our own capacity.

What is the capacity of our brain? Can we really multi task or we just switch tasks? The brain has limited capacity in handling multiple things together. In fact it takes more time to set focus and attention when we move from writing software code to writing an application for tax rebate. On top of that, the level of distractions in the form of gadgets is at their worst.

Do you face these in your daily life?

I start for the office in a hurry, missing my tube almost every day; reach office and start struggling to deliver the list of items to be completed by me; rush back home and start sweating in keeping my personal life with kids and spouse happy and complete. The day ends with big stressed snore and another day at the helm. Sounds very familiar?

When I asked my spouse to read the content above, her opinion was, it is so much of her day, rather than mine. Long story short, it is the case with every human being in the modern world. The hurry, hustle bustle and missing things have become a regular in the daily life. We have accepted this as part of life and given it the name of Multitasking.

The humans have adapted the world of multitasking from the world of computers. It was originated from the parallel processing capabilities of computers. Over the time, it has become the human attempt to perform many things simultaneously, most of the time by using the technologies to best of their capabilities.

What the Research on Multitasking Suggests

The multitasking and brain capability expert, Meyer, suggests that productivity can lower by 40% if we keep on switching tasks. If one person switches from one task to another it gets difficult to wade through distractions which can cause mental blocks thereby hampering the progress.

So what’s the way ahead for Multitasking?

The answer is simple, just start rejecting the concept of multi tasking. Its time to say no and understand the more productivity loss it does rather than improving it. If you are writing an email and talking to someone, more precisely speaking, you cannot give your 100% to both, although both involve communication. Both of these tasks are too conflicting and your mind has difficulty in switching between the two tasks.

You have to see the bigger picture on this, the biggest problem is multitasking can lower the work quality since we are not focussing on one thing at a time.

The solution lies in Unitasking

Multitasking is important and it can get you in the good books of your boss. But remember the hidden disadvantages of multi tasking. It can stop you from doing an excellent job. It can make your work more prone to errors and it consumes lot more brain energy to sustain multitasking.

Remember, if you focus on one thing at a time and devote completely towards it, it is called Unitasking. It is hard to do as you need to intentionally remove the interferences or disturbances. But, at the end you achieve enhance productivity.