Everyone thinks they're good multitaskers.

But, the truth is, no one is good at multitasking. The human brain is not designed for it. Sure, we can chew gum, walk and talk and so forth, but when your brain needs to focus on a task such as reading, driving, learning, writing and that type of thing, it's not a good idea to try to multitask.

  • There Is No Such Thing as Multitasking – The truth is, what we call multitasking is really what is termed “task switching”. This means that you can go back and forth between tasks such as watching TV and reading, for example, but you're not really doing both at the same time.
  • Trying It Causes You to Be Slow – When you don't give 100 percent of your focus to the task at hand, it will take longer. Try it for yourself. The next time you need to get something done, set a timer for 30 minutes. Do only that task. Don't watch TV, listen to the radio, check your phone or anything. Then do the same task again for the same amount of time while also doing something else and you'll see that you get more done.
  • It Causes You to Make Mistakes – When you multitask, you can make mistakes. What if your surgeon was texting while doing surgery? As ludicrous as this sounds, so many people think they're able to text and drive. In many cases, multitasking is deadly; in other cases it just causes you to make unneeded mistakes.
  • It Causes Inaccuracies – Need to do your taxes? Pay attention to exactly what you're doing and nothing else if you don't want to make silly mistakes. The same can be said for cooking, changing the oil in your car or anything with steps to make that produce results.
  • It Makes You Stressed – When everything is taking too long, you make mistakes such as your taxes are inaccurate. And then you're stressed out, of course. The stress can manifest itself into sickness, burnout, and worse.
  • You're Not Experiencing Life – One of the saddest parts of multitasking is that the people who do it are missing out on experiencing life. They miss weddings, family dinners, and other intimate relationships due to always trying to do more than one thing at a time.
  • It Increases Problems with Memory – When you have too much going on, it can lead to information overload, which can cause problems with your memory. Your brain essentially starts filtering information incorrectly, which causes everything to have the same weight of importance. This causes you to forget.
  • It Affects Your Relationships – If you've had even one person tell you that you're on your phone too much, listen to them. That means everyone you know probably thinks you aren't present during important times. They start to think you don't care about them, and you won't be able to build long-term intimate relationships if you don't take the time to focus on them.
  • It Makes You Fat – Believe it or not, multitasking may be to blame for the fact that over 60 percent of the population is overweight today. Why? When you eat and watch TV, eat and work, eat and drive, you're not focused on the activity of eating, so you miss bodily cues that let you know when you're satiated.
  • You Can't Really Do It – As mentioned before, no one really multitasks. They just switch from one task to another. Since it's not possible to do more than one thing at a time, stop trying. Give yourself enough time to do each thing without interference, and you'll improve the quality of your life tremendously.

Additionally, attempting multitasking will ruin your creativity and take the joy from the things you like to do.

Life is a series of events that you should take the time to enjoy and soak in, even if it's data entry or reading a dry school book. You'll get more out of your life if you start trying to focus on one thing at a time so that you do your best and feel good about it.

en_USEN
Scroll to Top