Learn how to get more done without losing your train of thought.
By Karen Leland • Illustration by Doug Boehm
On a typical day you might answer e-mail, scan the Dow to see if your favorite stock has spiked, fill out an expense report and sit in on a conference call—probably all at the same time. A study from Day-Timers, Inc. reported that 62 percent of workers say they always or frequently feel they have to rush through their tasks. And a study by the Institute of Psychiatry at the University of London found that when workers are constantly juggling e-mails, phone calls and text messages, their IQs fall an average of 10 points.
Julie Morgenstern, author of Never Check E-mail in the Morning, says that this constant barrage of interruptions has redefined multitasking in the modern workplace. “With my clients, I noticed a change about five years ago,” Morgenstern says. “Up until then, there were people who would literally start eight things in the morning and have them all done by the end of the day. These people could work synergistically, because they were in control of their various projects. That was an effective version of multitasking.”
But in today’s nonstop work environment— thanks to the ubiquitous nature of PDAs, e-mail, instant messaging, etc.—Morgenstern says those eight projects have turned into 16, and people just can’t control all those balls they are juggling. “There is too much stimuli and too little control,” Morgenstern says. “This has made multitasking ineffective.”
Olivia Fox Cabane, author of The Pocket Guide to Becoming a Superstar in Your Field, believes that multitasking, especially while on the phone, is one of the biggest mistakes. “If you are on the phone with a client or coworker and doing something else, the person on the other end can feel your distraction and they do resent it,” Ca-bane says. Even if you are just reading e-mail, she says, there will be a split-second lag time in your responses, which the listener will subconsciously pick up on. As for typing while on the phone, Cabane says, “No matter how quiet you think you are, people can always hear the sound of your keyboard clacking.”
In the August 2001 issue of the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, authors Joshua Rubinstein, David Meyer and Jeffrey Evans revealed the key findings of a scientific study they had conducted on time lost when people switched back and forth between tasks. The results showed that there was a substantial loss of efficiency, manifested in time costs and accuracy, when task-switching took place. In cases where the complexity of the task increased, the amount of downtime increased as well. Meyer says every time someone gets interrupted in the middle of something, they risk getting a type of writer’s block.
“You break your train of thought when you go from one task to another,” Meyer says, “so when you go back and resume the task you may spend minutes scratching your head trying to recollect where you were.”
Even in the face of anecdotal and clinical evidence that multitasking may not be the best strategy, Morgenstern says it can be a hard habit to break. “We work in a staccato work environment,” she says. “Anything that needs five or ten minutes to take care of gets done. But the type of work that takes a few hours to get done and requires deeper concentration, what I call legato work, gets put off.”
Morgenstern has suggestions:
• Avoid e-mail for the first hour of every day. Instead spend your time on a critical task that takes concentration.
• Study your concentration threshold: What is the maximum time you can stay focused before you have to shift gears? Train yourself by gradually increasing the amount of time you spend concentrating on something—one minute at a time—until you are able to focus for 30 minutes to an hour straight.
• Turn off cell phones and BlackBerrys in meetings. Just as individuals have a concentration threshold, so do groups. Build in PDA breaks every hour, so everyone can stop and check their e-mail, then come back focused.
According to Morgenstern, it’s the ability to overcome the addiction to multitasking and do the legato work that allows companies to cultivate a competitive edge and individuals to fully realize their talents. So, sit down, take a breath and concentrate!
CLOSE THE DEAL WHILE YOU DO YOUR LAUNDRY
Last year, Plantronics, Inc. conducted a survey of home-based professionals to learn more about their work habits. As it turns out, 73 percent of home-based workers conduct personal activities while on business calls. Forty percent do their laundry and 32 percent prepare meals. In addition, 84 percent said they perform work-related tasks while on business calls.
