Stop Multitasking, start monotasking

We are multitasking more than ever before. Multitasking is now glorified to such an extent that people who can’t do it are considered somewhat slow.

However, the concept of multitasking is flawed. It is scientifically proven that you don’t really multitask because you can’t.

So what happens when you think you are multitasking?

You shift focus from one thing to other rapidly giving an illusion of multitasking. This is even true for the females who are generally much better at multitasking than most males.

This comes at a cost. The cost is called switching cost. Switching cost is the time taken to switch from one task to other and back again.

When multitasking, the attention of the brain has to rapidly shift from one thing to another.

1. This leads to mental exhaustion.
2. Multitasking also means that you are not focusing on any one particular task thereby reducing the quality of both the tasks.

Monotasking

Monotasking simply means doing one thing at a time with your complete attention. It’s difficult to monotask and it takes certain patience to switch your mobile and internet connection off and just do what you really want to do. 

It’s not exact Math but just to give an idea of what happens:

While MonoTasking:
Task 1 : 1 hour

Task 2: 1 hour 

Monotask Total time : 2 hours

While Multitasking:

Expected Task1+Task2 : 1.5 hours

Actual Task 1 + Task 2 : 3 hours.

So you lose 1 hour.

Where is that 1 hour gone?

That hour is the time it took to rebuild attention and review the tasks when you revisit again after some time. 

As I said, it’s not an exact science and the wasted time would vary on various factors like how soon you are switching and how intellectual a particular task is. 

The wasted time is directly proportional to how intellectually stimulating a particular task is i.e. how much creativity is required. If something requires you to think: for example writing a book, or learning for exams. These tasks are often best done in isolation to everything else. Creative writers generally do not multitask. Good students also know the importance of sitting down without distraction and focusing on the task at hand. 

Monotasking also keeps you fresh, gets the work done quickly and saves time, increases the quality of the output. 

Taking a break is different than multitasking. You are deliberately switching your mind when taking a break to lower level of activity so that you can come back with all your strength. However, when multitasking, it’s not always the case. 

If you can focus on only one thing at a mind with all your attention and do it until it’s complete, it increases your chances of success manifold.

In this information age, where most valuable tasks are done not by force but by the mind, monotasking is more important than ever.

Are you still not convinced about benefits of monotasking?

Do you still think that the concept is great but you can do multitasking easily because you are so special?

Try this test: 

You need to fill the table here as mentioned in the heading. You have 15 seconds to do it. 

Multitask test:

First, you will

write A from project 1, then 1 from project 2, then I from project 3
Then B from project 1, 2 from project 2, then II from project 3...

See how much were you able to fill in in 15 seconds. This will be your multitask test.

Now try again with a-j in one go, followed by 1-10 and then I-X. calculate time for that. This will be your monotask time.

You may try it but I am confident most of you would be convinced even without trying this that second way is the much faster way. So you are handling multiple projects in the first case and single project at a time in the second challenge. 

Source: https://www.coursera.org/learn/work-smarter-not-harder/lecture/bA2v4/4-1-some-thoughts-about-multitasking