Multitasking is Bad Fiction

Multitasking is a ridiculous term and an even more ridiculous expectation. I have seen it in job descriptions. I have experienced it in the workplace. It is a useless idea and wholly detrimental to productivity and a peoples’ and organizations’ well-being. We have been conditioned to conduct ourselves as if this idea is a normal and expected behavior. Increasing workloads paired with shortened timelines has borne this abomination of a concept. Many people just accept this idea and even wear it as a badge of honor as if it is some kind of personal achievement or practiced skill. It’s not. There is no such thing as multitasking. None. It does not exist.

What Is The Idea Of Multitasking?

The idea of multitasking came about in the 60s and referred to a computer’s ability to perform more than one function at the same time (Clear, n.d.). Humans are not computers. An analogy would be that the brain is a single-core processor. We are not hardwired or programmed to multitask. Our brains are not capable of performing multiple high-level functions simultaneously (Clear, n.d.). Yes, you can have multiple projects in process at the same time, but you are unable to actively engage with more than one thing at one time. You can try to argue with me all you want, but bouncing from meeting to meeting, sending emails during those meetings, and taking calls in between it all doesn’t count. That’s just being ridiculously overloaded for the sake of being busy because, you know, that’s just the warped world we live in. And don’t give me the “I can pat my head and rub my stomach while chewing gum and walking” nonsense either — that’s a stupid analogy.

Go ahead, create a PowerPoint describing why people who make potato salad with mustard are wrong and at the same time copy edit a process document detailing how to effectively punish people who make potato salad with mustard. Can’t be done. Dividing your attention between multiple tasks or projects is not multitasking; it is dividing your attention, hence your focus and productivity, between multiple tasks. This dilutes your focus. It dilutes your productivity. Employers can expect people to behave like quantum particles and be everywhere at once while simultaneously getting everything done yesterday. But this doesn’t mean it is realistic. On the contrary, it is counter-productive to getting things done and it just needlessly stresses people out to the point of drinking a lot of cheap booze to cope and collapsing from burnout. Not too bright, folks.

Managing Multiple Priorities

It is sad that as a society we have been suckered into thinking and behaving as if being constantly busy and even overworked is something to strive for. This is dangerous. It is counter-productive. It is not healthy. It is not sustainable. So, what is the alternative? How do we shift our perspectives of work? How do we better our relationship to a system that is designed to keep us so busy, confused, and tired (and just broke enough) that we don’t have the energy or brain-space to do anything other than comply?

As with any challenge or obstacle, we need to be able to take a step back and put ourselves in a position to view your surroundings from an objective standpoint. It is difficult to see the forest for the trees, so to speak. The whole of a problem or issue is unclear when you are deeply involved within that problem or issue. This is where detaching yourself from what you are experiencing, or pulling yourself back to get an objective view of the wider environment of an issue can help you see alternative paths or actions you can take.

When it comes to managing priorities and your well-being in a world of overwork, here are a few things you can consider to help ease your workday:

• Prioritize what needs to get done over what can wait.
• Design a workflow where you engage with one task at a time.
• Accept that whatever it is you do will take longer than you think.
• Don’t beat yourself up if you fall out of step with your plan/schedule.
• Schedule down time; giving yourself breathing room is essential.
• Enjoy the process. Getting something done is better than getting nothing done.

“Easier said than done” you say? Yes. All of these ideas may not be feasible in your current environment. It is not your fault. Society’s idea of work has become a twisted and gross creature. We fell under its spell. We are not going to heal the system and ideas of work overnight. It would be great to just flip a switch, but there is only so much we can do with the situations and environments in which we find ourselves. The wider system of behavior and beliefs about work need to change to accommodate more reasonable environments where we can thrive and not be under constant pressure which stifles our ability to be creative and doesn’t even give us the room to think straight.

Collectively, I believe that we can affect change to create more effective and more sustainable ideas around work and our relationship to those systems. The more people that contribute ideas, actionable or not, to designing the new world of work and our place in it, the faster these changes can become reality.

The less strained our intellectual capacity becomes, the more creative, effective, powerful, and progressive we will become.

References

Clear, J. (n.d.). The myth of multitasking: Why fewer priorities leads to better work. https://jamesclear.com/multitasking-myth