Multitasking is Dead by Carmin Wharton

Do you know why you can’t get more done?

No?  Then kill multitasking – totally eliminate multitasking from your business life.

 

Have you ever had this happen to you?  You're working on a project that requires your full attention and creativity, such as writing your newsletter or designing an information product, and suddenly a family member or employee interrupts you while you were concentrating - deeply. Even if you tell them you are busy and go back to work, it takes you quite a while before you can re-align your mind into what you were doing before.

 

That time lapse between the interruption and getting back into what you were doing is your “mental shift” as your mind tries to realign itself with what you were first doing.  The more concentration and detail that was required for your original task, the longer it will take for your mind to help you get back into your project.

 

Amazingly the ability to multi-task is one characteristic sought by employers.  I can understand why a potential employee seeks a candidate who can answer the phone and type at the same time; they think they are getting a hard worker but I would venture to say that multi-tasking is the number one reason we don’t complete one project before tackling another project and then neither project is ever completed.  Multitasking is the reason that our to do lists never get items crossed off them and why at the end of the day, home-based business owners look around, realize they’ve been busy as heck but got nothing done. 

 

It has been proven in scientific studies that trying to do two things at the same time slows the brain down and I am a living witness! 

 

Have you ever tried to write your newsletter while listening to a teleseminar recording? How about trying to have a serious conversation (or worse yet, text messaging) on your cell phone while driving? 

 

Yes? Then you know that neither was done with your full attention or ability (and you shouldn’t even be dealing with the cell phone when you are driving – at all!) It's as if you weren't there for half of the time. You were neither fully creative in writing the newsletter or forgot where you left off in creating it and you were not fully integrated with what the teleseminar offered either. With the text messaging example, too little of your consciousness was on driving -- scary -- and you couldn't fully connect in the conversation and no telling what your text message ended up saying. 

 

Here’s another example of multitasking gone bad.  You are on the phone with your friend and you are enjoying a great conversation and may even be discussing a serious subject.  All of a sudden, you notice that she is saying “Ahh haa” at inappropriate times or after you ask a question, it’s taking her way too long to answer.  Guess what?  Your friend is multitasking.  Don’t believe me?  Listen closely and I bet you’ll hear her keyboard or you’ll hear paper being shifted.  She was multitasking and was not longer giving you her full attention.  You felt like you were treated rudely while talking to your friend – didn’t you?

 

By now we all know that multitasking takes us off our game. So why do we still do it?

 

It’s how we have been trained (remember my comment about employers seeking multitaskers?). 

 

Focus and discipline is what helps you complete a project.  If you are a home-based business owner, “projects” usually have profit tied to them and so you must be able to focus and be disciplined enough to say “no” to something else clamoring for your attention at the same time.  Here are some things I have started to doing to keep me focused on what I’m doing while I do one thing at a time:

 

1. Clear your desk of anything unrelated to your current project. Believe it or not, those slips of paper, notes and things you “intend to get to” are commanding your attention and draining your energy – energy you need to focus on the task at hand.

 

2. Plan your day out so that you can focus in on one task at a time. Set times to complete urgent tasks, reading and responding to emails (I suggest twice a day for checking email), marketing and listening to teleseminar recordings. Then keep to your schedule. Unless a real emergency presents itself, don’t veer off of your schedule. Complete one project or task and then move on.

 

3. Complete those tasks that have the highest rate of return for your business. High rate of return items are the things that will accelerate your success and increase your bank account. 

 

4. Take short breaks away from your desk and office. Go walk the dog, play music, cook or read something purely recreational. Doing something completely unrelated to your business or technology will refresh and reinvigorate you.

 

5. Create your schedule for tomorrow. Schedule your high rate of return items first and then whittle down the remainder of your to do list.  If a project or task took longer than you intended and you were not able to mark it off  today’s to do list, move these items to tomorrow’s to do list but after the high rate of return projects or tasks.

 

I believe if you stop multi-tasking and really focus on the project or task at hand you will find that you accomplish more, reduce your stress and increase your profits.

 

Want to use this article on your website, blog or in your newsletter?  You can but make sure the following byline is included in its entirety and the article must not be edited in any form and must be presented exactly as it appears here.

 

About the Author:

Carmin Wharton is a home-based business expert and the founder of e-BlackWomenNetwork.com, a membership community designed to take businesses owned by women of color from startup to prosperity. Carmin's mission is to help women earn what they're worth and make it big in their home-based business on their own terms.