Checking e-mails during a conference call, folding laundry while reviewing homework: Multitasking has become a badge of honor. But what price do we pay for doing two — or more — things at once?,
QUICK ON THE DRAW “Juggling is an illusion. In reality the balls are being independently caught and thrown in rapid succession. Multitasking is actually task switching”
T hink you’re doing two things at once when you multitask? Not exactly. You’re actually shifting your attention from one task to the next.
The brain is like a time-share apartment; it can house two families but only one at a time. “Juggling is an illusion” writes highly successful entrepreneur Gary W. Keller author of The ONE Thing. “In reality the balls are being independently caught and thrown in rapid succession. [Multitasking] is actually task switching.”
Switching from task to task uses brain power. Part of the brain focuses on goal shifting — “I’m going to do this now instead of that” — and part of it turns off the rules for job one and turns on the rules for job two. This makes you less efficient not more.
Create a free account to keep reading.
