The last time you were at a job interview – admit it, you saw somewhere that ‘multitasking’ is a plus. Why do so many people insist on doing ten tasks at once in order to be more productive? Software is meant to make our lives simpler, not make us want to interact and work using six different technologies at the same time.

Multitasking brings tension to our everyday lives and has a negative effect on our mood, motivation, and productivity, according to a Stanford University study:

People who are regularly bombarded with several streams of electronic information do not pay attention, control their memory or switch from one job to another as well as those who prefer to complete one task at a time, a group of Stanford researchers has found (Standford.edu)

Stop romanticising multitasking. Just stop.

Some people take pride in their ability to juggle several goals at the same time. When you do this, though, your mind is never really concentrated on a single mission. When we meet a new individual, we always forget their name – this is due to our minds being overwhelmed and unable to absorb or remember the new knowledge.

This inability to focus has ramifications not just in your professional life, but also in your personal life and relationships. When you’re doing a lot of things at once, you can’t really concentrate on something or communicate deeply with others (customer, coworkers, friends, or family). We are essentially just half-living when we struggle to exist in the moment.

The More Tasks You Do At a Time – The Worse

This is a logical result of the lack of attention that multitasking causes. When you’re doing several tasks at once, your mind is split between them, so it’s only normal that you’ll make more mistakes. Multitaskers are also bad at filtering out irrelevant details, according to Stanford research. That means there will almost certainly be some mental cross-firing and task duplication. Are you sure you can afford to make such errors? Most likely not. As a result, you should give each role your undivided attention.

Multitasking also has an effect on your memory. A research conducted in 2011 by the University of California, San Francisco, looked at how easily jumping from one task to another affects short-term memory.

Needless to say, the effect is always negative and becomes more pronounced as you age. Just because you can perform your duties now doesn’t mean you’ll be able to continue living your life in the same manner in 5 or 10 years. It’s also best to start developing good habits as soon as possible.

Feeling Anxious? Well This Might Be The Reason Why

One of the most significant disadvantages of multitasking is the anxiety that people who regularly split their attention experience. The effects of disrupted work, according to a study conducted by researchers at the University of California, Irvine, range from psychological to physical.

They conducted a study in which workers with and without access to office email had their heart rates tested. Those that had access to their emails stayed wired – their heart rates were higher than those who didn’t. The second party, on the other hand, was found to be relatively stress-free in their work.

Where Are You NOW?

How much do you read or write status messages on your phone during the day? The rest of you isn’t really living if your thumb is firmly stuck in reading news stories on the internet all day. Only engaging with your immediate surroundings or truly communicating with other people will provide you with that deep sense of fulfilment.

With all of these factors in mind, it’s easy to see why the power of multitasking is a fallacy that has never successfully assisted anyone in doing something significant. So, what are your options? Here are some suggestions for increasing efficiency while reducing stress:

• Make your job more structured. In the morning, do extremely imaginative tasks and then take a brief break before going on to the next task.
• For an hour or two, put your inbox on hold. At the very least, quit responding to your emails immediately. Others would be “educated” not to expect immediate responses as a result of this.
• Share your weekly achievements and aspirations with others. When you publicly commit to such goals and then fail to meet them, it will inspire you to find a better way to achieve them the following week.

Enough? Well, there you have it. Stop making enormous lists of tasks you need to accomplish at once. Get them all in small chunks and go – one by one.

And stop scrolling. Now.