First, Multitasking
Multitasking is the ability to deal with more than one task at a time. Multitasking is the buzzword in modern life. But guess what…
Your Kiddo doesn’t know Multitasking!
Human body evolutionarily is not designed for multi tasking. The best way to verify this is by observing a child (1-3 year old). Children are the closest to the ‘factory settings’ that God has created us with. Observe them when they are deeply engrossed in an activity – watching a cartoon program or ‘reverse engineering’ their favourite toy. Observe how their attention span is so blinkered into what they are engrossed in. You keep calling them, but your sound will fall on deaf years. Also…
Your grandfather didn’t know Multitasking either!
Nobody before your & my fathers’ generation heard of Multitasking. In those simpler days, life & work were not so demanding. On an average, people didn’t feel the squeeze in those days that they feel today.
The word Multitasking is relatively new in English. As one can see from Google Ngram Viewer Chart below, the usage of the word began somewhere in the 70s-80s and picked up in the 90s.
The point that I’m trying to drill down is that neither we are biologically nor, historically gifted or adroit in Multitasking. It is a requirement that has been forced upon us by the modern lifestyle.
As technology brought an unprecedented level of efficiency in our lives, it was supposed to make our lives simpler. Instead of doing that it ended up squeezing more & more work in less & less of time. Life in general, and Corporations in particular started demanding more and more from people in less & less of time. This was a kind of technology lead leverage that made it possible to amplify the output. And surely it did. Over the years, technology has made it possible to not only commute to the office farther & faster, but also simultaneously sending emails, talking to customers, colleagues, boss, sending good morning texts to Mom, listening to podcasts & music & so on.
Issue With Multitasking
As I discussed in my article, Leverage – A Double Edged Sword, if technology has brought us boon in the form of efficiency, it has alongside also brought us bane in the form of the squeeze….the squeeze to do more & more in less & less. Another harmful aspect of leverage is that it not only makes us more sensitive to even minor hiccups (which would have otherwise not mattered), but it also amplifies the harm (we could have otherwise got away with minor glitches). You have our auto gear cars with all possible social media & phone connectedness. You can voice command your way into calling people, sending texts, toggling music, checking maps, while driving. But, all it takes is the confluence of a few things going against you, like a minor distraction while checking the next turn on the maps, and a sudden encounter with a stray animal or a pot hole on the road, or another driver coming from the opposite direction who is also coincidentally checking his maps, and things can take a very ugly turn.
Another way, in which multitasking is causing harm is by creating chronic stress. The thing about stress is that acute, short lived stress is good for us. It sharpens our attention and activates our immune system. However, chronic stress brings long term problems like permanent high levels of cortisol (commonly known as stress hormone) and low levels of Testosterone. And persistent multitasking does exactly that to ourselves. The modern day lifestyle pressure always keeps us on the edge. When we run pillar to post juggling between various activities, the physiology gets discombobulated. It takes this running around as a threat and prepares for it. It does so by aligning everything from the nervous system to digestion, elevating blood pressure, elevating glucose levels etc. The anxiety caused by multitasking can be physiologically understood as the gastro-intestinal, cardiovascular, metabolic and attentional preparation for a physical fight. The problem is that the physical fight never really ensues. We just keep chasing tasks after tasks, keeping our anxiety levels high, the body takes it as an impending fight or flight situation, but the physical act never ensues. The body stays on alert mode almost on a permanent basis and that kicks in the side effects related to insulin insensitivity, blood pressure, obesity etc.
Why is Multitasking Difficult?
Let’s get back into Biology to dig deeper. Our body in general and mind in particular, works on tasks at two levels – Conscious Level & Subconscious Level. Whenever we deal with something which is difficult, novel, delicate, or dangerous, the body & mind partially shuts down our attention from the functions that are temporarily not urgent and concentrates and aligns the body, mind and behaviour to the difficult, novel, delicate, or dangerous task at hand. Some examples:
- Difficult – solving difficult calculations like 13×297
- Novel – learning car driving
- Delicate – carrying a new born baby in arms
- Dangerous – extinguishing fire
When we encounter one of such situations, our whole body systems fall in line to face the challenge. Try sending a voice command to Alexa, attending your Boss’s call and nodding to your wife’s statements along with doing this….Impossible!
When is Multitasking possible?
When an activity, new or difficult or delicate or dangerous, rehearsed multiple times and mastered eventually, it gets delegated to the subconscious part of mind (& body). In another article in this blog, ‘New & Improved You!’, I gave an example of the 12 month old version of myself trying to conquer the biggest challenge of my life then – walking by myself. Initially, I would entirely focus on just getting this right. It wouldn’t have been possible for me to take up any other task while attempting to walk. Fast forward to 2003, when I was using my first mobile phone, I would sit on my chair and read the instructions manual to understand how to store a new contact or how to send a message; I won’t be able to take up any task at that stage. Fast forward further to today, I can walk and send a text message simultaneously without an iota of problem. The point is this..
It is possible to multitask with activities which have been mastered and dealt with our subconscious. It is not possible to multitask with activities that we have not mastered and that are dealt by our conscious self. If we attempt at doing such multitasking, we make mistakes and we cause chronic stress. How to do Multitasking with challenging tasks?
Introducing…Monotasking
Monotasking is tackling one challenging task (difficult/novel/delicate/dangerous) at a time. It involves taking chunks of concentrated, focused and deep work. It is also important to stash all the distractions in the attic!
The only way and the fastest way to carry out Multitasking of an ensemble of challenging tasks is Monotasking – dealing one task at a time. No matter how torn you are between various challenges, you”ll make a mess of it, if you try all of them together :
- learning car driving on a busy street, while checking maps, speaking to your boss and nodding to your wife.
- Speaking to your Boss regarding the Board Meeting presentation, while keeping an irate customer’s call on hold, with an urgent mail draft half ready, a subordinate waiting in the wings with her appraisal discussion and your visit to the loo is long overdue!
Your only realistic hope of tackling these activities is tackling them one at a time. Mind you, I do not mean to suggest finishing one task at a time. I am only suggesting to attend to one task at a time, even if done partially.
I ‘read’ three books at a time – one on my kindle, one on my mobile and one audiobook. I read a section of one of these and move over to another. In any case there is a ‘division of labour’ in the sense that I use kindle at home, mobile when I’m outside (like waiting in a queue or shopping with my wife!) and the audiobook usually in the car, or while shaving. Switching over from one reading to another gives me time to ruminate and internalise what I read. While I internalise that, I read a section of the other book. I keep repeating this process and keep replacing the old books with new ones, once finished. This way, I multitask among at least three books at a time, wasting no time internalising them after reading, without confusing my mind!
Monotasking As A Solution For Multitasking
An important aspect of Monotasking is doing concentrated chunks of deep work. Doing serious and meaningful work involves use of the conscious mind. This is metabolically expensive, i.e. it needs efforts. The Mind gets tired and has a tendency to pull us into frivolous tasks. The mind will make you fall for easy temptations like checking new mails or social media notifications. Once you fall for such frivolous temptations, it is very difficult to switch back into deep work again. When you are onto a challenging task, you leave all distractions aside and spend meaningful time in attending the task at hand. Once, you feel tired and can’t make a headway, you break off, take a short break and move to the next challenging task.
This method keeps your productivity high and keeps your mind fresh, creative and stress free.
Figure out how you will do that in your life, but here are a few suggestions:
- Everyday, tackle the biggest, the most difficult tasks upfront. Leave the frivolous tasks for the later part of the day or for the in between times
- Keep the mobile away; so far that it is out of sight & sound. Over the years, our physiology has developed an association of dopamine kick with the social media notification sound of the mobile. It’s, because of this that it’s irresistible. The best way to resist a temptation is by not encountering it. If the mobile is so far from you that you can’t see or hear it, it will not tempt you as much. If attending calls is necessary part of your work, switch off notifications, or keep it at least out of sight
- Avoid sitting in the open architecture cubicled halls. Grab a meeting room or a coffee table.
- Learn to say no
- When you eat, just eat
- Delegate lesser important work; divert calls
- Split your day in say 45 minute sessions with 10 minute breaks. Fit your tasks in the slots
- Use some kind of signal when you are occupied. Shut the door of your room, set up a “Do Not Disturb’ sign at your cubicle
These are just some thoughts that I have tried at various points of time in my life. Feel free to innovate & improvise. But, at the cost of sounding repetitive, here’s the crux of the message.
The best, the most error free, the most stress free and the fastest way to carry out multitasking is by carrying out one task at a time, partially, if not fully, and then switching to another task. I call this Monotasking.
Monotasking is not part of any dictionary as of now, as was the case with Multitasking five decades back. I sincerely hope to find Monotasking becoming a part of the active usage in a large way.
It is time for me to take a quick ten minute break, before I switch to my next task. Hope to see you on the other side of the short break!