Focus Killer: Multitasking

We've all been there. The day starts with a plate full of tasks, a calendar dotted with meetings, and everything seemingly needs to get done ASAP.

You hop on a video call, but it's tempting to quickly check those open emails, right? Maybe fire off a quick reply, then jump back to other tasks... But while you're doing that, are you really being present during that video call? 🤔

According to the bottleneck theory of multitasking, you can't fully process more than one thing at a time. Multitasking is therefore a technique that comes at a cost. You want to know why and how to unlearn it? How to focus on one thing at a time?

Then let’s dive into Focus Killer: Multitasking

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THE MULTITASKING BRAIN

By definition, multitasking is the "coordination of multiple tasks at a time to achieve a specific goal." It happens in challenging situations, like the scenario above, and even in simpler ones, such as talking while driving.

Take a moment to reflect for yourself:

• What was the last situation where you multitasked?
• How often do you do it?
• And also: What is your relationship to it?

Often celebrated as a skill, especially in women, you might feel proud of your multitasking abilities. Or, if you're like me, you might openly admit you’re really BAD at it. My friends know when I’m on the phone or doing something else, there’s NO way I can properly engage.

I hear what they say, but I only process it once I’m done with my previous task. It’s like hitting rewind and listening back a few minutes later to truly concentrate on what was said.

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ONE PROCESS AT A TIME

When you are multitasking you are basically switching back and forth between tasks, a phenomenon called serial processing. The “bottle-neck-theory" says that your brain is only able to process one piece of information at a time. So, everything else will always be “waiting in line” until it is its turn.

While the information itself is entering your brain simultaneously, you are not able process it in parallel.

What does that mean?

Let’s take myself as an example again: I am indeed able to hear what my friends are saying, while looking at my phone – i.e. simultaneously, I am receiving auditory (talking friend) and visual information (phone screen).

My friends however need to wait to receive my attention (“bottle-neck” processing). I first pay attention to the screen, and then to my friends (or vice versa, for that matter).

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TASK SWITCHING COSTS

Yesterday, I already posted something about this on LinkedIn: Multitasking comes at a cost for you.

Some studies are furthermore suggesting, that "heavy multitaskers" tend to:

• Be more easily distracted:
  ​The brain’s “attention control” area becomes overactive, requiring more energy to disengage from distractions.
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• Be more impulsive:
  ​They are making decisions quickly without sufficient evidence.
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• Experience negative effects on memory:
  Multitasking doesn’t allow enough “time” to deeply embed information.

Okay, but what is the alternative?

It's simply to start focusing on thing at a time.

Let’s see what that would look like.

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SOLUTION 1: REDUCE DISTRACTIONS IN THE EXTERNAL WORLD

This one is easy: what can you do to minimize distractions in your environment? Write them down for you, as tools to choose from the next time, you want to get into deep focus.

Here are some suggestions:

Choose your environment 🌏

Yes, use different environments for different tasks. There are several studies that suggest, that your environment can influence your cognitive abilities, e.g. they can make you more creative or more analytical.

Prepare the environment ✨

Digitally as well as physically. What are the things e.g. open tabs or other devices that might disturb you that you could get rid of before starting? Is there anything, that can help your productivity? (Light background music or enough water/tea/coffee). Take some time to analyse your individual distractors and productivity boosters and use them to your advantage.

Turn off notifications 🗯️

You’ve probably heard this a quadrillion times, but THIS is the key change you can make in the external world. If you have incoming mails, or other phone notifications – anyone BUT you controls your attention. You have basically no chance, but to have your attention pulled away from what you are doing, every time someone else “decides” to contact you. You have no control whatsoever, because your brain is trained to check the notifications impulsively. So, please don’t let anyone else decide about when you are allowed to focus on anything.

How I do it:

Creative & Research Tasks: ​
Either in a café, on my couch or even just outside. Always with music in the background & some snacks & coffee

Boring Admin Tasks: ​
At my standing desk with some tea and concentration music

Meetings & Workflow Tasks: ​
At my office desk with the door closed, enough water and mostly in silence

Play around with different settings and components. For me, with ADHD, it is particularly helpful to combine boring tasks with something that I enjoy a lot (e.g. music or tea). But this is very individual, so try it out for yourself and keep the things that work for you.
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SOLUTION 2: TRAIN YOUR BRAIN TO FOCUS

Now that we’ve set you up on the outside for increased focus, let’s see how we can set up your “inside” for similar success.

There are a lot of tips and habits that are essential in preparing your brain for higher levels of concentration, but I am not diving into those today, because they’ve been covered plenty already. Their core message is to keep your body healthy through e.g.:

• enough sleep
• healthy foods
• regular exercise

These measures support a balanced production of noradrenaline, a neurotransmitter and hormone that is regulating your concentration and focus.

However, today I want to answer the following question: If you should avoid task switching, because you lose productivity time, and you need to to start focusing on one thing only, what is the best tool to learn this?

The answer for me is: 👉 MINDFULNESS MEDITATION

The very definition of mindfulness is to focus on the present moment; not the future, nor the past, just what is right in front of you.

I am honest – it makes me very happy – that a topic, that is still considered to be somewhat “esoteric” is actually THE secret to increased productivity when it comes to focusing on one thing at a time.

And there are several studies looking at e.g.

• 3 months meditation trainings
• Intensive meditation retreats
• 8 weeks mindfulness trainings
• Or even just 5 days with 20 minute interventions

And they ALL showed improvements in different attention-related functions of the brain.

If you remember the inefficiency in attention control I mentioned earlier for multitaskers, you probably won’t be surprised, that the opposite effect is true for “heavy meditators”.

Brains of people practicing meditation regularly need less energy maintaining focus.

Meaning: If you practice meditation instead of multitasking, you will get more efficient and better at controlling your attention.

The key ingredient in all of these studies seems to be regular training as opposed to duration. It's like with muscles: if you train attention and mindfulness they get stronger. If not, they don’t.‍

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START TO INCREASE YOUR FOCUS

Usually I would've prepared a step-by-step guide for you on how to get into mindfulness meditation. But for this week, I've thought of something else:

If you are interested, I will personally record & send you a guided 10-minute mindfulness meditation next Sunday.

YES PLEASE!

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And for now:

Stay mindful,

Carina 🌻