Work life has changed radically over the past twenty years, technological advancement has brought with it a constant stream of text messages, e-mails, phone calls, data feeds, etc. Today’s working environments are extremely distraction friendly: gone are the offices; the many benefits of open-plan work spaces also bring with them more noise, movement, interruptions, etc. Similarly a lot more work is now done “ on the go”….phone calls as we walk or drive; remote access to the office from home or from our mode of commuting.
Our default working system is “Always On” Larissa Barber, a workplace psychologist at Northern Illinois University, calls it ‘workplace tele-pressure’ – technology and globalisation has enabled us to stay connected to work 24/7. This constant access to communications and data has changed workplace expectations, immediate responsiveness and continuous productivity are expected. In his book ‘One Second Ahead’, Rasmus Hougaard points us to McKinsey research which indicates that ‘modern work life is transforming competent professionals into frenzied underachievers’! He calls it the PAID reality P = Pressure; A = Always On; I = Information Overload; D = Distracted.
Faced with this relentless flood of information and distraction, our brains try and process everything at once. In other words, we try to multitask! So, is multi-tasking a help or a hindrance?
Hougaard suggests that multi-tasking doesn’t actually exist (except for large computer processors), what in fact is happening is we are shift-tasking: we are shifting attention rapidly between two or more things. Sometimes we switch so quickly (e.g. driving and speaking on the phone) that we have the illusion we are paying attention to both at the same time, but we are not! Research shows that multi-tasking is a myth, we take more time, make more mistakes and use up more mental energy and are less creative. Dr. Adam Gazzaley does a great job in this TED Talk of explaining the basic concepts of attention; working memory; long-term memory; and how various distractions and interruptions affect us all in our daily lives. His research also concludes humans can only hold selective attention on one thing at a time and when we switch our attention back and forth among multiple tasks, it takes time and mental effort to refocus on each task thus making us less productive.
If this research is widely available, which it is, why then do we continue to multi-task? Researchers at Harvard University discovered that multitasking provides a dopamine injection to the brain and gives us a sense of gratification; shifting back and forth between tasks feeds action addiction and gives us instant gratification and a sense of pleasure. The key question is are we spinning wheels or being genuinely productive?
Perhaps it is time to consider how we might enhance our productivity by mono-tasking. Hougaard reminds us that results come from our actions and our actions come from the choices we make. He outlines two rules which will help us avoid the multi-tasking trap and enhance our productivity and effectiveness in the workplace and in life generally:
Rule One: Decide on a task and stay focused on it, don’t let distractions get in the way.
Rule Two: Deal with your distractions mindfully. As each distraction emerges, chose either to let it go completely; put it aside to deal with it at a specific time in the future or let go of what you are doing and make the distraction the object of your full attention.
So the next time you are tempted to write ‘ability to multi-task’ into a job description, think again…..is this what you really want?!
References:
“One Second Ahead, Enhance your Performance At Work With Mindfulness”, R. Hougaard
Ted Talk: Dr. Adam Gazzaley : Brain, Memory and Multitasking
Larissa Barber in Scientific American Mind September/October 2016
