We live in a time where we’re all multitasking by default. Twitter while watching Netflix, Facebook while working, emails while spending time with the family. It’s just part of our lifestyle these days.
A lot of people think multitasking is the way to go about things. Multitasking, they say, make you more productive and efficient.
Truth be told, multitasking is slightly overrated and we believe that there are many reasons why you shouldn’t do it.
A lot of people brag about multitasking because it lets them achieve more than one thing at a time. They think that being able to multitask means being able to do something with greater efficiency and in lesser time.
However, the truth is that the perks of multitasking are overrated and in the process of doing multiple things at a time, you are bound to lose yourself in the process.
When you are working on one thing at a time, say talking on the phone and writing a report, you are bound to lose focus and therefore, lose control on focusing on one task.
Too many distractions are bound to make you break your concentration and you will find it hard to focus on that one task alone.
Therefore, multitasking does not let you focus on one task and you cannot even rest between different tasks, which can become a serious problem.
Multi tasking and the frequent interruptions are a source of stress and have a notable impact on your overall health levels. Multitasking is regarded to be a source of mental pressure as it imposes a sense of urgency.
This in turn leads to an increase in stress levels as it triggers a physiological stress response. Therefore, you can experience chronic stress with multi tasking. This stress, will also lead to a hindrance in your overall ability to focus, further compromising on your health.
The human mind works best when it is focusing on one particular thing at a time. However, in multitasking, we start focusing on a number of things, which ultimately affects our nervous system as well.
Our nervous system is constantly being interrupted when we multitask and this can be very frustrating. Therefore, not only does multitasking affect your productivity, it also affects your overall well being.
Multi-tasking is not an ideal practice. While you may succeed in completing multiple tasks in lesser time, it is hardly possible that you will do any of them perfectly.
Perfection is not something you should compromise on. Most successful people have a habit of focusing solely on the task at hand.
Total focus is what is typically required for a breakthrough. It would be a pity if you can’t achieve that only because you were tied up in too many things or under the impression that you need to be multitasking to be successful.
Paolo Cardini, a MFA Design Assistant Professor at Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar, presented a fantastic TED talk a few years back on the topic of multitasking vs monotasking which is definitely worth checking out!
