Multitasking is a myth; you cannot consciously work on more than one thing at a time.
This is why the unconscious mind is so important. If you’re driving you are only consciously doing one thing – hopefully this is looking out for danger! And, whilst you’re doing that, your unconscious self is working the pedals, gears and steering.
If you’re working on two or more tasks at once, what you’re actually doing is sharing your conscious attention between them. This may only be for a few minutes, or even seconds; and that’s when it feels like multitasking.
It makes perfect sense to work on two or more tasks together, when there is down time during tasks; like loading a washing machine then doing something else whilst waiting for it to complete its cycle; or working on a job for a second client whilst waiting for a response from the first.
But if there is little or no downtime as part of a task or project it’s way more effective to work on just one task at a time, because you focus all your attention on that one task, which means it will get done more quickly and with less chance of errors.
Also there is something about completing a task – especially one you really didn’t want to do – which releases energy and motivation to take on your next one.
See if this suggestion works for you; every evening decide on the top 3 tasks you want to get done the following day. Then assume you might not get them all done and write them down in order of priority, putting your most important task first. Then next day work only on the first task, until it is completely finished, before moving onto the next task.
If you don’t finish all 3 tasks, or even the first one, by the end of your daily work deadline it doesn’t matter, since you know that is the most important task you needed to work on and now you’re a whole day closer to gettig it finished. So simply continue working on it the next day until it is done.
On the other hand, if you happen to finish all 3 tasks with time to spare, you have two choices; choose another task to work on or give yourself the rest of the day off; whatever you feel will motivate you more.
Work on the one thing, knowing that it’s the most important thing to be working on right now – and see what it does for your motivation and productivity.
