This post is a repost of an original written by Ernie Smith at Associations Now. You can read the original here.
Why taking a step back from doing multiple tasks at once may be the best decision you’ll make all day.
Tackling several tasks simultaneously can feel really good if done right.
The problem is, this strategy is often done wrong, and it’s easy to get offtrack. Plus, when it’s done wrong, it can really stress you out.
That’s the take of Votenet Marketing Director Jenn Barton, who says that you may just be better off single-tasking when you have a plate full of stuff to do. She highlights research that finds that multitasking workers get ahead of themselves after a couple of small victories.
“When you multitask ‘successfully,’ the reward mechanism in your brain releases dopamine,” she explains. “Multitaskers get addicted to this dopamine rush of happiness which leads them to search for external stimuli (like an email or text notification), lose focus, and believe they’re being effective when they’re not.”
She suggests taking a more focused approach—drop the tweeting, the emails, and close up all the tabs. And take a break every once in a while—you look famished!
