Why Multi-Tasking, is a Productivity Killer

"Taking responsibility is a commitment to own your life, to self-leadership, growth, and freedom"- Christopher Avery,

Any small business owner or freelancer knows the importance of being a good multitasker. This is because a small business owner has to combine a lot of roles at the start-up stage. The truth, though is that multitasking may not be your best option. Yes, multitasking may not be helping you.

A lot of small business owners like doing a lot of things side by side which is fine. But at times it may not produce the best result. Why? You may ask, assuming a mechanic has 5 cars to work on, and he loosens the 5 engines of the cars he wants to work on the same day. Frankly, it is most likely he will not finish the 5 cars that same day. Therefore if the five-car owners come, he will not be able to deliver anyone. This means that he will not generate any income that day.

On the other hand, assuming the mechanic focused on one or two-car he will be able to complete the repair and get a result. This will generate income, therefore this is one of the disadvantages of multitasking, it is a productivity killer, at times you will not be able to produce anything at the end of the day. You will just be working all day long and all the activities at the end of the day will be work- in progress.

There are about 10 reasons why you should stop multitasking and focus on one thing at a time. Some of the reasons are:

It lowers your IQ

If you are doing nearly all the administrative tasks for your company, it's time to stop. Some company owner-manager, run payroll, hire, interview, do marketing and work on finances. A better idea is to simply focus on the management part of your business.

Some studies have shown that doing too many things at once could lower IQ. MIT neuroscientist Earl Miller notes that our brains are "not wired to multitask well... when people think they're multitasking, they're just switching from one task to another very rapidly. And every time they do, there's a cognitive cost." Researchers found a link between multitaskers and IQ drops. In the studies, men experienced more dramatic drops than women.

You'll make mistakes

Another reason to stop doing too much at once is due to accuracy. Workers who try to do too much at one time are more likely to make careless errors. A better idea is to focus on improving your time management strategies. This means that you can focus on ways to get each task done one at a time.

This is a strategy that could be passed on to your staff as well. You and your workers should make each job a priority so mistakes are less common. This way, your company could have better results and improve its ability to get things done right the first time.

You could face more stress

There is also research linking too much responsibility with stress levels. It's much more satisfying to the brain to complete one job at a time. You can feel successful, even if just for a moment. Doing several things at once and not completing any can make you feel like a failure.

These feelings may increase your stress levels. This can also make it much more difficult to finish anything. If you have too much going on, you may rush through your tasks. Slowing down and seeing a job to the end is much more rewarding.

You could be working slower

Even though it may seem like a multitasker is saving time, that is not usually the case. You may be working slower. Giving each job the attention it needs often speeds up the process and improves efficiency. You'll be more successful if you set goals and work smarter.

Your quality of life may suffer

Quality of life is something you shouldn't ever ignore. As a busy business owner, you may be stuck in the grind. It's vital to take time and evaluate your overall happiness every once in a while. If you're always working on several different things, you may not be able to do this. Maybe it's time to consider a new way of working, such as travelling for your job, to improve your outlook.

Your creative ideas may slow

Creative juices are often what make new ideas successful in a business. Your creativity may slow down if you're always running from one thing to the next. You have to give yourself time to reflect and be inspired to get the creative ideas going again.

Your work quality is worse

Multitaskers in all types of fields have another common problem which is low work quality. You may think you're getting so much done and being effective. In reality, your work quality may be seriously suffering.

It isn't safe

The last problem that makes this work style not ideal has to do with safety. When your attention is all over the place, accidents and mishaps are more common. Drivers not paying attention cause more crashes than ever before. It's safer for you and everyone else to focus on one thing.

It's time to revamp your working style and stop being a multitasker. If you want to get more done and be more satisfied, you can by doing one thing at a time.

You will agree that doing several things at once is a trick we play on ourselves, thinking we're getting more done. In reality, our productivity goes down by as much as 40%. We don't multitask. We switch-task, rapidly shifting from one thing to another, interrupting ourselves unproductively, and losing time in the process.

You might think you're different, that you've done it so much you've become good at it. Practice makes perfect and all that. But you'd be wrong. Research shows that heavy multitaskers are less competent at doing several things at once than light multitaskers. In other words, in contrast to almost everything else in your life, the more you multitask, the worse you are at it. Practice, in this case, works against you.

What we neglect to realize is that we're already using that brainpower to pick up nuance, think about what we're hearing, access our creativity, and stay connected to what's happening around us. It's not extra brainpower. And diverting it has negative consequences.

Let's share some personal tips on ways to resist the temptation of multitasking

First, the obvious: the best way to avoid interruptions is to turn them off. One prolific author Peter Bregman said that " Often I write at 6 am when there's nothing to distract me, I disconnect my computer from its wireless connection and turn my phone off. In my car, I leave my phone in the trunk. Drastic? Maybe. But most of us shouldn't trust ourselves."

Second, the less obvious: Use your loss of patience to your advantage. Create unrealistically short deadlines. Cut all meetings in half. Give yourself a third of the time you think you need to accomplish something.

There's nothing like a deadline to keep things moving. And when things are moving fast, we can't help but focus on them. How many people run a race while texting? If you only have 30 minutes to finish a presentation you thought would take an hour, are you going to answer an interrupting call? The answer is obvious. You may not pick up any calls.

In summary, because multitasking is so stressful, single-tasking to meet a tight deadline will reduce your stress. In other words, giving yourself less time to do things could make you more productive and relaxed.

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