Bear with me for a little bit of confession time: I’m a chronic multitasker. I have trouble keeping my mind on a single project, task or conversation at any given time. As I write this blog post, I’m chatting with two coworkers on Google Talk, checking my email every five minutes, and listening to an excellent rock album by the Black Angels. That might not sound so bad, but I’m not getting the full value out of any of those activities. A recent Stanford study explains why.
Researchers found that people who multitask frequently are actually the worst multitaskers. In tests, they were much more likely to be distracted by irrelevant information, and slower at switching between tasks. According to one of the study’s authors, “They couldn’t help thinking about the task they weren’t doing.”
That helps make sense of the study’s counterintuitive conclusion that doing several things at once means getting less done. When you multitask, you’re not giving full attention to anything. The brain can’t focus on two things at once, it can only rapidly switch between the multiple chores you give it. It’s much more efficient to clear out your to-do list one item at a time, eliminating other distractions.
Of course, that’s easier said than done, but you can make some software tweaks to help get your brain back into single-tasking mode. Turn off Growl or other pop-up alerts. Turn off notifications and badges for new email. Close down your chat and Twitter apps. On a Mac, hide your dock, so those tempting app icons don’t distract you. If you need to focus on writing, consider a distraction-free fullscreen writing app like Writeroom (for Mac) or Dark Room (the Windows equivalent).
If that’s still not good enough, take extreme measures. On a Mac, you can get SelfControl, which lets you block your personal list of distracting websites for a set amount of time. You can’t even get around the timer by restarting your computer. Lifehacker has a roundup of other ways to ban yourself from distracting websites, including an “invisibility cloak” script for Firefox users. Whether it’s software-based or self-imposed, you’ll get a lot more done if you can find a way to cut out everything that’s not essential to the job at hand.
Jay is a freelance writer based in Seattle, WA. He blogs about software for Download Squad, and contributes interviews to Geek Monthly magazine, among others. You can also find him on Twitter.
Photo Credit – totalAldo
{ 1 trackback }
{ 0 comments… add one now }