In our workaholic society, we’re taught that multitasking is the secret life-hack to increasing your productivity. If I could pay my credit card bill, finish a project, and upload a new Instagram photo at the same time, why wouldn’t I? At least, that’s what I used to think.
But I started to realize that despite all the multi-tasking I was doing, I wasn’t actually increasing my productivity. I was spreading myself too thin — getting small portions of many tasks done, but never quite finishing any. It was a frustrating process and I ended up feeling over-worked and under-productive.
It dilutes your focus and attention so even the easiest of tasks become much harder and take longer to complete.
Multitasking is just giving your brain distraction after distraction. According to studies, you increase your productivity by 40% (!!) when you give yourself time to focus on one task. Changing focus in the middle of a project not only forces your brain to switch tracks, but when you return to the original project, your brain will need to refocus yet again. Even little things, like quickly checking your email, can be distracting.
This is why, even though you may have done little to no physical activity, you arrive home at the end of the day feeling exhausted and not in the mood to do anything.
We know it is not a good way to get quality work done, but the demands for out attention persist and rather than reduce, are likely to increase as the years go by.
Here are a few strategies on how to stop multitasking so you can get better quality and more work done in the time you have each working day:
* Put Your Phone Far, Far Away
The smartphone is a slippery slope. First you check the time, then see if you’ve missed any work calls and pretty soon you’re scheduling a lunch date, renewing your Spotify subscription and completely ignoring what you were working on in the first place. Okay, maybe you have more will power than I do, but even simply answering a text in the middle of working on a project can leave you distracted and considerably less productive than before.
It may sound silly, but putting your phone on a table across the room or even gasp turning it off can reduce the risk of distraction. If you’re in the middle of an important activity, treat your phone as a phone. Answer calls and nothing else.
* GET ENOUGH REST
When you are tired, Your brain has less strength to resist even the tiniest attention seeker. This is why when you find your mind wandering, it is a sign your brain is tired and time to take a break.
This does not just mean taking breaks throughout the day, it also means making sure you get enough sleep every day.
When you are well rested and take short regular breaks throughout the day your brain is fully refuelled and ready to focus in on the work that is important.
* NOTICE PATTERNS AND SET SPECIFIC TIMES
Now that you’ve been thinking about multitasking, you’ll probably be more aware of your urges to do so. Just noticing your thought patterns is a good, first step. What’s your go-to distracter? Email? Updating your calendar? “Work”-related social media? Whatever it is, avoid the distraction by setting yourself specific times during the day that you can check it.
* TAKE A PRODUCTIVE BREAK
If you feel the urge to switch tasks, it could be that you’re bored or just need a mental break from whatever you’re working on. In order to increase your productivity, take a a little time-out. Avoid the urge to make a call or run a quick errand. Instead, take a walk or meditate for 10 minutes. Taking a real, mental break will give you the relaxation you actually need and leave you with a more productive mindset when you’re ready to get back to work.
* LEARN TO SAY NO
Whenever you hear the phrase “learn to say no,” it does not mean going about being rude to everyone. What it does mean is delay saying yes.
Most problems occur when we say “yes” immediately. We then have to spend an inordinate amount of energy thinking of ways to get ourselves out of the commitment we made.
By saying “let me think about it” or “can I let you know later” gives you time to evaluate the offer and allows you to get back to what you were doing quicker.
* Find a quiet place to do your most important work
Most workplaces have meeting rooms that are vacant. If you do have important work to get done, ask if you can use one of those rooms and do your work there.
You can close the door, put on your headphones and just focus on what is important. This is a great way to remove all the other, non-important, tasks demanding your attention and just focus on one piece of work.
* When at your desk, do work
We are creatures of habit. If we do our online shopping and news reading at our desks as well as our work, we will always have the temptation to be doing stuff that we should not be doing at that moment.
Do your online shopping from another place—your home or from your phone when you are having a break—and only do your work when at your desk. This conditions your brain to focus in on your work and not other distractions.
Conclusion
Focusing on one piece of work at a time can be hard but the benefits to the amount of work you get done are worth it. You will make fewer mistakes, you will get more done and will feel a lot less tired at the end of the day.
Make a list of the four or five things you want to get done the next day before you finish your work for the day and when you start the day, begin at the top of the list with the first item.
Don’t start anything else until you have finished the first one and then move on to the second one. This one trick will help you to become way more productive.