Attempting to do two or more attention-demanding tasks simultaneously reduces productivity

Multitasking means trying to do multiple things at once. This causes your attention to be divided, making it harder to focus on one task. When your attention is divided, you are more likely to make mistakes or miss important details. As a result, you often have to spend more time correcting these mistakes, which makes you less productive. Research shows that most people are not good at multitasking without their work suffering.

Multitasking can also lead to “attention residue.” This means that when you switch from one task to another, part of your attention remains on the previous task. This makes it harder to fully concentrate on the new task, reducing your efficiency. Constantly switching between tasks can also be tiring, making it harder to think clearly and make good decisions.

To be more productive, it is often better to focus on one task at a time, also known as monotasking. By giving your full attention to one task, you can complete it faster and with fewer errors. This means not only finishing faster but also producing higher quality work. Although some people are good at multitasking, this is not true for most people. Therefore, it is usually better to avoid multitasking for tasks that require a lot of attention..

Jeroen Sangers @jeroensangers