Writers are often tempted to multitask because they think it’s a good time management technique, but usually it decreases productivity. But not always…
What is Multitasking?
It’s doing 2 or more things, supposedly at the same time. Sometimes you can do it, it’s appropriate, and it increases your productivity. However, most of the time it’s counterproductive.
Here’s why. If you try to do 2 activities at once that both involve significant use of your active cognitive functions, your brain has to continually switch from one activity to the other because the brain can only focus on one thing at a time. Each time it switches to an activity, it needs to reload the set of rules and skills needed to do that activity, and this can take nearly a second. Ditto when you switch back to the other activity.
Now, a second is not much time. But if you keep switching back and forth between tasks, it adds up, plus it increases mental fatigue.
Here’s what the American Psychological Association says about multitasking:
Whether people toggle between browsing the Web and using other computer programs, talk on cell phones while driving, pilot jumbo jets or monitor air traffic, they’re using their “executive control” processes—the mental CEO—found to be associated with the brain’s prefrontal cortex and other key neural regions such as the parietal cortex. These interrelated cognitive processes establish priorities among tasks and allocate the mind’s resources to them.
The measurements revealed that for all types of tasks, subjects lost time when they had to switch from one task to another, and time costs increased with the complexity of the tasks, so it took significantly longer to switch between more complex tasks.
(Read more about what science says in this LiveScience article and this Wikipedia entry.)
When You Should Not Multitask
Don’t multitask whenever you are doing something important that requires detailed mental processing of information, or in which you need to be fully aware and paying attention to what you are doing. Examples:
1. Important conversations
2. Freelance writing, fiction writing, poetry writing, any writing — including e-mails
3. Driving, in most circumstances
4. Doing complicated physical tasks, especially potentially dangerous ones, like chopping wood
A bit more about multitasking when driving. I do listen to educational audios when driving, or if I have a passenger, I’ll talk. What you shouldn’t do while driving:
- Talk on the cell phone
- Use any electronic communication device
- Do anything at all complicated with food or drink (no sloppy burritos)
If traffic is heavy or road conditions are iffy, I don’t listen to audios; I pay full attention to driving safely.
When You Can Multitask
There are circumstances when you can and should multitask, and you definitely will save time. These involve doing one activity that you have done many, many times and can do with very little conscious thought. You can do these and, for example, hold a conversation at the same time:
1. Washing dishes
2. Pulling weeds in the garden
3. Doing housework—cleaning, folding laundry
4. Some forms of repetitive exercise, like exercise machines or stretching
5. Waiting on hold on the telephone
There are some potentially gray areas. For example, when you eat it’s often best for your digestion to focus on what your eating — the taste, the smell, the appearance, the texture — and also on chewing well and relaxing. I have a habit of reading when I eat alone, a habit I initially began as a little tike reading the back of cereal boxes and which soon escalated into reading books and magazines, and now sometimes includes looking at the Internet. I find it relaxes me.
Managing Multiple Tasks is Not Multitasking
We all have many items on our to-do lists, and figuring out the best ways to get them done and in what order is an important time-management skill. However, that’s not the same as trying to do two or more things at once.
Your Take
In what ways has multitasking hurt you in the past? What are some effective ways you can do it and free up more time? Share your experiences and suggestions with us.
Thanks for this article John. More time is wasted, really, when a person tries to multitask. Maybe what I’ll do now is to list my tasks and finish them one at a time.
Irene, I list my tasks by priority and then do them one at a time. When necessary I split up longer tasks into different sessions.
I remember a time in my corporate days when multitasking was the buzzword. Your work value was viewed as somewhat diminished if multitasking was not one of your strengths.
I think the skill was really more about organizational skills to handle multiple assignments than it was about doing them at the same time. I am very relieved we are giving ourselves a break and have stopped trying to be some kind of super human being.
Cathy, you make a very important distinction: managing multiple tasks is not the same as multitasking. We all have to manage multiple tasks every day.
summer means kids at home. That means multitasking while one is asking what is the opposite of air? Do you know Mom? no….guess.
Moms have to juggle so much! School should be starting soon, though.
I’m with Cathy. When I worked in corporate offices multi-tasking was the buzzword. Every time a job opening came up in other departments, multi-tasking was always listed. I used to cover the mailroom for breaks and vacation which meant I brought my regular work into that room and worked off the computer in there and had to jump up every time a courier rang the doorbell or when someone from another department showed up with something to be couriered or looking for someone they stuck in the mail and decided couldn’t go out. So yeah my regular work suffered with constant interruptions throughout the day. Can only do so much! That’s one of the reasons I don’t work there any more!
I find that I can work on more than one writing assignment at a time. If I take a break I go on to something else, and when I get hung up or need a break, I move back to the first project and can see it again with fresh eyes.
I agree not to do anything else while driving except listen to music if you need that for company. Using cell phones or other hand operated devices is against the law here – $173 fine if caught. I have a sun visor hands free device but I don’t get many calls when I’m driving. The worst thing is I can’t see who’s calling because the call display on my phone is out of sight in my pocket or purse. Sometimes I push the button on the visor to take the call and get that fog horn blast from a telemarketer trying to sell me on a cruise. Nothing like listening to that while you’re driving!
Cheryl, I worked in a hospital lab for a while. I often filled in for other jobs, yet still had to deal with aspects of my own job. Frustrating!
I also am usually managing multiple writing projects, including some work for nonprofits. Like you, I shift between the projects depending on what I most feel like doing at the time (while keeping deadlines in mind).
Cathy and Cheryl’s comments prompted me to add info to the post about handling multiple projects versus multitasking.
John, as someone who’s tried to do fast research or lookups while interviewing someone on the phone, I thank you. I know I shouldn’t because I’m not fully listening, but when they mention that study or that website, I can’t help myself.
Time for decaf. 🙂
Lori, I’ve had the same issue when I try to talk on the phone to someone and simultaneously research something we’re talking about. It doesn’t work well at all.
Of your list of maybes the only one I can do successfully is while I’m on hold… the rest I don’t do well at multi-tasking unless it’s a conversation that isn’t intense…
Since I’ve moved I find I’m not even listening to the radio or the news much anymore…
I was on hold for a few minutes today and was pleasantly surprised that the music was light classical, about the easiest type of music for me to hear and still be able to do another task effectively.
Forgive a longish post…this is something I’ve thought a lot about over the years…
I pride myself in being a pretty good multi-tasker because I feel I have a good grasp of what kinds of tasks dove-tail nicely and which kinds do not. It’s not literally doing two or more things at once though…it’s more like recognizing the down times in a task process, being able to feel them coming, deciding which other task would be best to do during those down times, and then executing that plan. It’s more like managing task flows and being able to transition quickly between them. When I’m doing this, it can look from the outside like I’m doing two things at once, but I’m actually not.
(It does help to have tasks of varying lengths and difficulty around so the right one can fit in the right place. For instance, I might be making multiple copies of a CD which means that there will be short waiting periods of a minute or two punctuated by small bursts of activity: take out the copy, put it in a case, load up a blank, press “go”. So if I happen to have a task on my to-do list that is fairly simple that won’t suffer from me leaving it every two minutes for 30 seconds, I’ll get that going. Or I might have a whole bunch of short tasks and I’ll decide to do those. Or I’ll decide to do some short sets of some kind of physical exercise.)
This does take a certain amount of a certain kind of brain processing capacity and not everyone has it. A lot of people can’t pay attention to music and lyrics at the same time unless the lyrics are super easy to follow. In any case, I was born with plenty of this processing capacity and it helps me dove-tail tasks, much like a restaurant chef does. One thing’s simmering, another’s on the grill, something else is getting prepped…It’s reasonably easy for me to keep track of a few things at once while having a casual conversation.
I don’t always do this kind of multi-tasking by the way, only when it feels right, but my mind does have a sort of sub-program going that will call up options to “kill two birds” whenever it spots one.
I’ve also learned over time how much of my attention different types of activities need. Writing prose is one of the things that I can’t do while doing something else. I can work on song lyrics while I watch a movie but I can’t even compose a good sentence unless it has my full attention. For anything really important or serious, I know I have to pay full attention to what I’m doing and I don’t multi-task at those times.
I think it’s a good idea for people to test and know their capacity for doing this kind of multi-tasking. If it’s within a person’s capability to do, it can really be helpful in life. If not, it can mean disaster to try to force it.
Gene, you’re very good at managing multiple tasks, an important skill.
I often like to do a set of tasks during a certain time period, switching between them as necessary. It’s actually fun and good training for the brain’s organizing skills. For example, I may coordinate doing laundry, cooking, doing the dishes (I let them soak in hot soapy water first), and answering e-mails.
Just discovered another one I can’t do: eat and play Bejeweled Blitz. 🙂
Lori, I often eat and surf the web simultaneously, but it would be hard to eat and play a game.
Multi-tasking definitely can have a negative effect on your writing if you try to write and do something else at the same time. I find when I’m talking on the phone and doing something else, I’ll occasionally lose the thread of the conversation completely. Multi-tasking is not the be-all, end-all that so many people acted like it was in the 80s. However, you have to prioritize properly as well — we don’t always have the luxury of only doing one thing at a time without interruption. Great post!
I really should note this in my “not to do” list. I actually am guilty of talking with someone over the phone who left me instructions and writing on the computer about some stuff at the same time. Well the endpoint was, I forgot everything she said and I had a lot of typos and unrelated phrases in my article. But I’ve learned.
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