The last time I wrote about Dirk Karkles, we learned that “do your best” is not a managerial plan of action.
Dirk Karkles thinks he can pay attention to more than one thing at a time. For example, he thinks he can write a report and carry on a phone conversation (or an IM/IRC session) at the same time. “I’m multi-tasking!” he says, sometimes with pride.
To this I say: There is no such thing as multi-tasking, there is only attention-switching.
You cannot perform two or more non-trivial tasks at the same time; at best, you pay attention to one and mostly ignore the other, then you switch your attention to the other and dismiss the first one temporarily, and then you switch your attention back to the first again. This is far less effective than completing the first task, then moving on to the second task, because of the time and mental effort it takes to switch between tasks.
Attention-switching is particularly bad when you are in real-time or near-real-time conversation. If you are doing other things while talking with someone else by voice or IM/IRC, you’re telling the other person they are not worth your full attention. If they’re not worth your attention, why are you worth theirs? (“I’m the boss” and “I’m paying them” and variations thereupon are not valid arguments — try again.) You are wasting your time, and theirs, by not being a full participant in the conversation.
Now, there are times when you must give your attention to multiple tasks. Be aware that you are not multi-tasking, you are attention-switching, and take this into account when you switch your attention to another task. At the very least, you will need to take time to “catch up” on the task before you perform some new action related to it. For example, in an IM/IRC conversation that you are taking active part in, you will need to read and comprehend the backlog of messages before you you can even think about writing a meaningful response. Among other things, this means that attention-switching is not a net time saver, it is a net time spender — but sometimes you have no other option.
So, the next time some tells you “I’m multi-tasking!” you know that person is not paying full attention to anything he’s doing right then. Similarly, if you find yourself attention-switching in live conversation, have the common courtesy to excuse yourself and pick back up again later, when you can give it your full attention. “Multi-tasking” is something to apologize for, not to be proud of.
You can’t tell me that you don’t believe in multi-tasking. I do it all the time driving the minivan. I pass goldfish crackers and juice boxes to the backseat while eating my drive-through lunch and talking on my cell phone to my best friend while on my way to a soccer game. Wait, you might have a point. I’m generally ignoring traffic laws;)
The ladies seem to think there is :) ! Your fiancée typified that!
Grace: “You can’t tell me that you don’t believe in multi-tasking.”
Paul, channeling H L Mencken: “Believe in it? Hell, I’ve *seen* it!”
;-)
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So correct! It is almost as If I wrote it myself. The human brain does have the ability to compartmentalize tasks and switch from one to the other but cannot do two or more at the same time without abandoning the other like a red-headed stepchild. Simple test. Take a hammer and smack it against a piece of wood 30 times. Pretty accurate indentations even if you don’t do it for a living. Take 2 pieces of wood spaced apart from one another and strike each in a rythmic manner with 2 hammers 30 times. Compare the accuracy of the 2 trials. 1 job with focus done very well and a “multitask” done very shoddy. In the time it takes the duojobber to realize the errs of their ways, the focused individual will be on their third task. A third task which will most likely be more fine tuned than their first because they were focused. We are not automatons. If you want to be, I suggest watching the Terminator series and figure out what type of metal endoskeleton you need to have. For the rest of us, stay focused and less confused than our indecisive brethren.
I could not agree more. When you concentrate on one thing you succeed at one thing, when you concentrate on two things you fail at both. People become defensive in stating that they are able to do more then one thing at once as it is viewed as a testament to expanded accomplishment. This is a false truth believed by many used to manage multiple inputs. Multi-taskers lack strategy and plans of action. Instead of doing two things at once, prioritize and do them in sequence.
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Amen.
Excelent article. A hugh problem with belief systems is that the true believer will act on what they believe and totally ignore the facts. Followers of the Multi-Tasking faith always fail to recognize that they are doing everything at a substandard level. Their belief systems dictates that the more you think you accomplish the better disciple you have become. Multi-taskers not only waste their own valuble time they waste the time of those around them that they leave on hold.
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explain the walking and talking at the same time scenario.. isn’t that multitasking?