Why multitasking reduces productivity
Productivity / / December 23, 2019
All know this situation: you have decided to someone to have dinner, but suddenly the interlocutor phone starts ringing. This may be a "very urgent" call, and simple smska "Hi, how are you?". And even after the person has to apologize to you for being distracted by his "urgent business", you can not help but notice how his eyes all the time looking at the phone, waiting for another call, or message. You can call this behavior inappropriate, but your partner, of course, assures you that his strong point - a multitasking. So is it really so we multitask, how to think about yourself?
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multitasking mechanics
Multitasking not only hinders productivity increase, but also greatly reduces it. According to an article published in the journal Psychology Today, multitasking (doing two tasks at the same time) is only possible when two conditions are met:
- One of the objectives must be so reflexive that it is not necessary to focus;
- these tasks have to be managed in different areas of the brain.
The article explains why at the same time to read and listen to instrumental music. These processes affect different areas of the brain. However, if the music has words, our ability to remember information drops sharply, because in both cases involved the language center of the brain. Reading e-mail or text messages, as well prevents us to listen and to understand the interlocutor.
In addition, we often make mistakes in their multi-tasking. In fact, we do not perform multiple actions at the same time and do them consistently, often "switching" from one to another.
There is a solution: eliminate noise
It should start by disabling all unnecessary devices. Put the cell phone, get off at the time of the social network. Tell your friends that you will not be in touch for a while, but you will answer them during the day. And most importantly, try to focus on one task. We live in a society that considers multitasking valuable and useful quality, but, as mentioned above, it only reduces productivity.
systematization
We hope to be able to successfully and fully in contact always and to everyone. But we can not. What to do? Establish rules, Draw the line one time. During the day, create yourself intervals (5 to 25 minutes), during which let your thoughts go slowly and smoothly from one task to another. Do not forget to allocate small intervals and to switch between activities that involve the same brain region.
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