People are not good at doing multiple things at once. Our brains are not designed for this. Our cognitive and neural systems, which are responsible for mental functions, do not have the right architecture to effectively support multitasking. When we think we are working on different things at the same time, we are actually switching quickly between tasks. This back-and-forth switching costs energy and time. As a result, we make more mistakes and the work takes longer.
Our brains work best when we do one thing at a time. This is due to how we have evolved as humans. If we try to do different things at once, it becomes too much for our brains. There are some people who can do this better, but they are very few. For most people, it works better to focus on one task. This way, you get the best result.
Related:
- Avoid excessive task switching to increase efficiency
- Schedule two hours every day for important work that doesn’t need to be completed immediately; this helps you become happier and more productive
- Attempting to do two or more attention-demanding tasks simultaneously reduces productivity
- A little time pressure while working on your tasks helps to reduce ‘attention residue’
- A small part of the population is able to multitask without performance reduction
