Time Management - Part 4: Myth of Multitasking

Part 1 - Islamic Importance of Time
Part 2 - Sunnah & Time Management
Part 3 - Actual Time Management

Multitasking: such a great word, if up to now you have been thinking of yourself to be a good multitasker, then read the following to discover more about what is now classified as a myth.

Partially inspired by the rise in powerful new technologies, people have bought into the myth of multitasking to describe someone with the ability to switch rapidly between real and virtual work environments to create the illusion that they can manage several tasks almost simultaneously and generate an excellent work product in all areas. 

Doing Too Much at Once - the Myth of Multitasking

A study by Basex, a New York research firm, found that office distractions ate up 2.1 hours a day for the average worker. Another study found that employees devoted an average of 11 minutes to a project before being distracted. Researchers Gloria Mark and Victor Gonsalez of the University of California, Irvine, found that once interrupted, it takes workers 25 minutes to return to the ask, if they return at all. 

People switch activities, such as making a call, speaking with in their cubicle or working on a document, every three minutes on average

In the past, many people believed that multitasking was a good way to increase productivity: if you are working on several different tasks at once, you are going to accomplish more, right?
Recent research, however, has demonstrated that that switching from one task to the next takes a serious toll on productivity. Multitaskers have more trouble tuning out distractions than people who focus on one task at a time.

People who multitask are less efficient than those who focus on one project at a time, says a study published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology...Managing two mental tasks at once reduces the brainpower available for either task, according to a study published in the journal Neuralmage

Remember…

•Everyone has the identical 24 hours to use every day to accomplish a variety of tasks.
•This also means that no one has the ability to stretch the space-time continuum in order to do more than one the same time.
•People who juggle texting and e-mails and searching the internet for information while conducting a phone conversation via headset, are not getting more done or turning out a superior project.
•They are almost certainly overlooking important issues or ideas, making careless errors and frying their brains with the stress of trying to push so much input through their mind at the same time.

•At the end of the day, they will be drained from the pace, and frustrated because they probably didn't complete a single one of their most important tasks.
•The next time you find yourself multitasking when you are trying to be productive, take a quick assessment of the various things you are trying to accomplish.
•Eliminate distractions and try to focus on one task at a time.