Work/Task Overload

Work/Task overload can be damaging to us as it causes stress and a lot of pressure, due to the fact that it reduces our recovery time between workdays.

Here recently I've found myself in this very position. Multitasking.......trying to juggle the very tasks that are important to me, all while burning the candle at both ends getting worn out. At times it is important to ask ourselves whether we are managing our time as efficient as possible and if we are able to improve our productivity. Here are a few ways that multitasking is killing our mojo.

Multitasking is killing our brain
While trying to work, we often find ourselves doing 2-3 tasks at the same time. We're asking our brain to split its attention and it can't do that. Our brains are not capable of focusing successfully on multiple tasks at once. We think they are but what's happening is your brain is jumping back and forth between tasks, focusing briefly on one thing at a time. And not only can our brains not make it happen, but they get damaged when we try to force them.

Constant interruption brings on higher levels of stress. It's intellectual overload, and it dulls our brain and our reaction times. According to a study at the University of Sussex, constant multitasking is actually harmful to your brain. They found out that people who regularly multitask have lower brain density in the area of their brain responsible for empathy, cognitive control and emotional control.

The good news is that you can fix that damage, the study found that if you take up activities that require concentration or make changes to the things distracting you can reverse the damage. Work on one thing at a time, in a place where you can concentrate.

So NO, don't multitask. Don't damage your brain because that's going to have an effect on your writing, the quality of your work, as well as how you manage with the rest of your task.

Multitasking makes you less productive
According to Dr. Susan Weinschenk, the appropriate word is task-switching. She states that it takes more time to switch tasks then to stick with them until you finish. We think because we're good at switching from one task to the next that that makes us good at multitasking, NO. It actually makes us less creative. Studies have found that multitasking reduces your productivity by 40%....that means your brain is only operating at 60%. We're wasting intelligence.

So if you're convince that multitasking makes you super-productive than your super-wrong. It just means that you backtrack a lot because every time you switch tasks, you have to repeat a bit to find out where you last left off.

Multitasking lowers the quality of your work
When you multitask, your work suffers TERRIBLY!
A study done by the National Bureau of Economic Research discovered that multitasking reduces workers performance, makes project last longer, and creates that panic buildup because your to-do-list isn't getting done.

Peter Bregman wrote about his experience with multitasking in the Harvard Business Review. While sitting in on a conference call, Bregman decided to not waste time and email a client. He sent the email but realized that he forgot the attachment, he then sent another email apologizing and added the attachment to the email. He then had to send another email to the same person apologizing because the attachment he sent was wrong (he was doing too much). He proceeded to send the correct attachment. Now all while he was sending out emails and the wrong attachments, the conference call attendees were waiting on him to answer a question, specifically, the Chair of the Board.

I have realized, matter of fact we all should realize that we are not being productive trying to do more than one thing at a time, actually it's just the opposite. We are not operating at our full potential thus why the quality of our work is sub-par.

Regardless of what we are trying to accomplish, we need to be mindful that we can only achieve one assignment at a time successfully. When we give our all to one task at a time, it yields all of the hard work and effort that we gave it. So don't burn yourself out trying to do too many things at one time........you'll find yourself too tired and failing at them all.