Multitasking doesn’t work
I remember looking for a job after graduating from university was excruciating. I submitted application after application, attending to the needs of what was required in the job description.
One skill requirement that kept coming up was multitasking.
Now, there are some things you can do at the same time. For example, you can wash dishes and talk to someone simultaneously. You can also walk and talk, as well as fold the laundry while listening to music. But when it comes to dividing your mental attention, it doesn’t work.
From my experience, I don’t think we have the capacity to multitask efficiently as we’d like. I am more productive when I do things one at a time. And in the past decade or so, we’ve seen more scientific research to support my claim. To add, ancient Eastern philosophy knew about this thousands of years ago.
Our brains are not wired for multitasking
In this era of the internet and smartphones, I’ve noticed our brains are busier than ever. People are tweeting, emailing, cooking and watching YouTube videos pretty much at the same time.
According to neuroscientist, musician and author Dr Daniel J. Levitin, multitasking is nothing more than a “pernicious” illusion. Sure, since the dawn of the internet age, we’ve seen an exponential growth in the amount of information available to us. But being exposed to so much information and trying to process it is extremely taxing on our brains.
In fact, we don’t multitask, we just force our brains to switch tasks very quickly – giving the illusion that we’re multitasking. One study found that the average person switches activities every few minutes. And the people who took part in this study complained that they felt burnt out and stressed.
Levitin shares that there’s a structure in the brain that allows us to switch between different tasks. This structure is located in the insula, which is at the very top of your brain. Whenever we switch tasks, or turn our focus onto something else, it burns up a lot of glucose – a sugar molecule that acts as our body’s fuel.
The glucose that we have in our body is in limited supply. And when we switch tasks multiple times during the day, our glucose levels become depleted and we feel tired. As a result, our body produces cortisol (the stress hormone) which puts you in fight or flight mode, and makes matters worse. As Levitin explains:
“You are not meant to be pondering and solving complicated problems in a fight or flight situation, you are meant to either punch somebody in the nose or run away so they don't punch you.”
One way we try to replenish our glucose levels quickly is to have sugary snacks. But as you may know, having too much sugar is bad for our health. It becomes a vicious cycle.
The ancients knew about this, long ago
The ancients knew splitting mental attention was pointless. This Zen proverb explains it succinctly:
“The mind that tries to do two things at once will miss both.” — Zen Proverb
With single-tasking, it’s important to take things step by step. For big goals, it’s a good idea to break things down into small goals – something I always do. Lao Tzu wrote about this more than 2000 years ago in the Tao Te Ching.
“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” — Lao Tzu
With multitasking, there’s a certain appeal to it where you can get more done. But the trade-off is you’ll feel burnt out. But as Marcus Aurelius noted in his Meditations, doing less is better in the long run. And that’s the beauty of single tasking as it encourages you to prioritise what’s important and put your full attention to it.
“If you seek tranquillity, do less. Or do what’s essential—what the reason of a social being requires, and in the requisite way.” — Marcus Aurelius
So quietly put your multitasking urge to one side. Just do one thing at a time. You’ll surprisingly get more done.