From eating while driving to texting on the phone while walking, the title of a “multitask-er” seems awfully easy to achieve these days. Thanks to technology, it’s common to hear people boasting about their multitasking ability thanks to life hacks and handy technology. Completing multiple assignments and chores all at once? Sounds a little too good to be true. Stop snacking, put away the phone, and offer your undivided attention to this: multitasking does not exist the way we imagine it to.
Simply put, we consider multitasking to be completing multiple tasks all at once with no discernible drop in quality of completion. Thanks Captain Obvious, right? The truth is our brains are designed to give attention to one thing at a time, when jumping from one to the next, our brain must go through a process known as task switching. Task switching is what actually occurs when we think we’re multitasking, but this can actually damage the integrity of your brain and lower productivity by 40% as it gets harder for the brain to filter out irrelevant information. However, in thinking that we completed more, we feel accomplished and proud of our work; our brain gives us that much wanted hit of Dopamine. Dopamine is a chemical produced by the brain that allows us to embrace a reward and motivates us to move towards rewards. Our brains will tell us multi-tasking is good but in reality, multitasking decreases our productivity and the quality of our efforts. Simply put, we cannot focus on multiple tasks and perform to the highest caliber.
There are ways to fix this lack of productivity. Any methods to help rezone your focus so you can divert all your attention to completing one task at a time is optimal. Try working in a new place or changing your work space to break up the monotony of your task. Set goals by simply jotting down what needs to get done tomorrow the night before. Decide what is going to be an obstacle to accomplishing your goals and how you are going to overcome that obstacle before it occurs. If you’re looking for even more ways to maximize your potential by rethinking the very way you think? Connect with Brain Basics to speak with a certified coach to redirect your life to a single focus: improvement. Brainbasics.com For more information on multitasking you can watch us Wednesday, July 25th on Fit, Fueled & Fabulous with Amy Goodson. https://www.unifyfrisco.com/