Permission to monotask

It’s a running joke in my family, and for anyone who knows me well, that I am completely incapable of multitasking. If I try to read a sneaky email while talking to my brother, he catches me every time.

I've always felt, well, a bit inadequate about my inability to multitask, especially since this is some inherent gift that women are claimed to have but have discovered that multitaskers may be doing themselves a disservice.

When working from home, we’re being faced with a multitude of temptations to multitask. Checking emails while on that long Teams call that’s about something else.

Yep, we’ve all done it.
Multitasking can seem more efficient, but research now shows that it can hinder our productivity. It can increase stress levels, negatively impact our memory and even happiness.

One study demonstrated that performance suffered for the vast majority of people (97.5 percent), when they performed two tasks at once. In fact, studies have shown that a person who is interrupted takes 50 percent longer to accomplish a task and makes up to 50 percent more errors.

As a culture, we have developed a habit of multitasking. Our email is constantly on and we interrupt our workflow to check it, even if it’s not urgent. If that’s not enough, we keep our phone by our side, checking messages and social media. This constant stimulation produced adrenaline, which can have long term effects.

Concerning research from Stanford has found that individuals that were considered heavy multitaskers had a reduced ability to filter relevant information and demonstrated diminished mental organisation.

It’s ok to do one thing at a time. In fact, it is BETTER to do one thing at a time.

The challenge, if you choose to accept it, is to relearn to be a monotasker. This is such a foreign concept for most of us today, that when I searched for a “mono task” image, it came up blank.

If this is tough for you (you are not alone), start small. Focus on one task, uninterrupted, for 20 minutes. Then take a 5 minute break and repeat. Schedule regular times to check email, messages and social media. Progressively, you may be able to increase the focused monotask time.

Some people set up an auto-respond email letting people know what time they check emails each day to set expectations. This may not be reasonable for everyone, however try to put some parameters in place to allow focused thought. Where you can, turn off alerts. Consider, is it really that important that you know RIGHT NOW?

If you have a wondering mind, as it is usually being stimulated by multiple things at one, rein it in to the task you are completing. It’s just like meditation. If you’re still struggling, ensure you have a “to-do” list where you can dump thoughts. Once you have placed it somewhere, it’s easier for the brain to stop fixating on it.

I personally like to take my “to-do” list and schedule it across the day. It gives me great joy to see everything will get tackled in due time. If you want to get even more strategic about it, align tasks at the time of day that matches your energy. I’m a morning person, so will do anything creative or that requires focus and problem solving skills when I’m most alert. Never waste your most productive parts of the day on mundane tasks.

Good luck with monotasking. YOU CAN DO IT!