“Do one thing at a time.” My mother said that long before multitasking became one of the top ineffective behaviors of our age. Mom also said, “You can’t do two things at once. She had it only half right. As Gary Keller said, “You can do two things at once, but you can’t focus effectively on two things at once.”
Multitasking isn’t really doing two things at once. It’s about switching back and forth between two or more things. That’s called “task-switching,” and it’s the thief of more than productivity. According to an article in the Harvard Business Review: “It takes time (an average of 15 minutes) to re-orient to a primary task after a distraction such as an email. Efficiency can drop by as much as 40 percent.” It’s the switching that gets you.
Eliminate the switching. Switch from multitasking to single-tasking, which means doing one thing at a time, just as my mother told me to do.
Single-tasking is brain-friendly. It’s the way your brain works best.
3 Reasons to Single Task
You’ll get more done when you single-task. Every time we switch between tasks, our brain experiences a lag. It might be a slight lag, only a few tenths of a second at a time, but those lags add up. The time you spend switching is time that you’re not productive.
You’ll do better quality work when you single-task. Single-tasking allows your brain to achieve flow, leading to more innovation and creativity.
You’ll have less stress when you single-task. Task switching is stressful. When you single-task, you can concentrate on one thing and not juggle many things.
6 Ways to Get Single-Tasking Right
The good news is that we know what it takes to do single-tasking right.
Eliminate distractions and temptations. Put your phone in another room. Close the door. You may want to use a computer or an app that blocks you from checking social media.
Know what’s next. When you finish a writing section, decide precisely what you will do next. Some writers who use this technique quit in the middle of a sentence. Use your planning time to determine what you’ll do. Either way, you can get right to work when you start your next writing session.
Take enough time. Single-tasking for a few minutes here and there will not get the job done. Most people are most productive when their work sessions last between 50 and 90 minutes. You may want to break that time up into shorter bursts using the Pomodoro technique.
Write at the same time, in the same place. This will help your brain get used to the idea that the place and time mean it’s time to start writing. Good, consistent writing habits will help you get right to work.
Fix things promptly. If you see something that needs fixing or editing, do it immediately. Don’t wait. When you’re working on a project, you know why you did something. You won’t remember the context even a day later, even if you take good notes. One company studied how long it took programmers to fix a bug after discovering it. If it took an hour to fix right away, it would take 24 hours just three weeks later.
Focus. Focusing is a skill. That means that you can learn it and improve it. Memory and concentration games can help develop focus skills. Try meditation. Get enough sleep.
Here’s the bottom line. You’ll produce more and better work with less stress if you eliminate as much task-switching as possible. It’s easy, but it won’t happen automatically. Use the techniques in this post to guide you.
