You see them everywhere; driving to work talking on the phone, putting on makeup or shaving, watching the GPS, and drinking their morning coffee. Once they are in the office, they are on the phone while they answer their emails. They go to a meeting and bring their laptops so they can get some work done while they participate in the meeting. Parents come home from work to cook dinner and talk on the phone while watching TV. The kids study in front of the TV or with music blaring in their ear buds while they are eating dinner. Sound familiar? It almost seems impossible to get anything done today unless we multi-task. But are we going about things the right way?
The world has changed quite a bit since the days of ‘sequential performance'. We used to do one thing at a time. We didn't have that sense of impending pressure to perform and accomplish everything possible in a small unit of time that we do today. The question is, ‘which is better?' Are we actually accomplishing and learning more when we multitask? I am starting to believe that that answer is a resounding no.
In 2005, Glenn Wilson of the Institute of Psychiatry at the University of London conducted a test on 1,100 volunteers on the effects of multi-tasking on intelligence scores. He concluded that "Workers distracted by e-mail and phone calls suffer a fall in IQ more than twice that found in marijuana smokers or people who have lost a night's sleep." Apparently, frequent interruptions and the need to accomplish more in less time result in the inability to stay and get back on track, causing poor workplace performance.
In July, 2006 Russell Poldrack, a psychology professor at UCLA, found that "multitasking adversely affects how you learn. Even if you learn while multitasking, that learning is less flexible and more specialized, so you cannot retrieve the information as easily."
He continued, "The best thing you can do to improve your memory is to pay attention to the things you want to remember. Our data support that. When distractions force you to pay less attention to what you are doing, you don't learn as well as if you had paid full attention."
It is interesting to note that his study was done on college students. While we might think that people whose brains were developed using video game machines and watching time warped TV and movies would be more able to multi task, it doesn't appear to be so.
To Get More Done, Eliminate Your Distractions and Learn to Focus
Timothy Ferriss, author of The 4-Hour Workweek recommends that people cultivate what he calls ‘selective ignorance' to accomplish what they really care about. He suggests that people go on a media fast by eliminating reading any books, newspapers, nonfiction, and TV for a week. Instead, take that time to talk with people and listen to music.
The idea here is to decide what you are giving your time and energy to that really doesn't serve you, and then be deliberate about where you are sending your thoughts and focus.
In order to create high productivity, you HAVE to "get in the zone." This is where you're so focused on what you're doing that nothing else exists but the work in front of you. You need 100% of your attention on that activity. There is no room for multitasking in this model.
Suggestions for eliminating distractions and becoming a sequential tasker:
1. Schedule your email time. Do not open your email in the morning and leave it on all day. Turn off the notifications or alerts so you are not tempted to see who emailed you.
2. Be selective and purposeful about Social Networking Sites. Really, now, do you need to check MySpace, FaceBook, and Twitter? Why not decide to check one of them once per day—and that's it!
3. Close all Web browsers (unless you need to use the Web for your work, in which case you close all other unnecessary browsers).
4. Do not answer your phone. Let it go to voicemail. Be causal (not casual) over your conversations.
5. Start your day with a task list of not more than three items. If you accomplish those, then look at other things to do.
6. Work on one project at a time.
7. Make sure to drink enough water, eat your SuperFoods and get some daily exercise. Following the
1. 8 Keys to Wellness will ensure that you have the body and mind to have a life you can be proud of.
Occupation: speaker and author
Carol Merlo, B.S., M.Ed., Speaker and Author has degrees in both Educational and Health Psychology and has studied personality psychology for over 30 years. She has extensive knowledge in nutrition and dietary supplementation. She and her husband Bill have helped thousands of people across the globe improve their health and develop sales, leadership and communication skills.
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