Confessions of a Multitasker

Decorative Wave

My Monday evening “to do” list stared me down. I wanted to watch an NFL game. My NBA team was also playing, having lost the previous four games. A client’s book needed editing, and my email was mounting. I flipped the cover of my laptop open, with a thought process as follows:

Kickoff was at 5:15 p.m. while my basketball team wasn’t hitting the floor until 7 p.m. The two sporting events would overlap, but not until the football game was approaching halftime. The majority of the email messages were going straight to the trash. Shouldn’t be a problem there. The book would be a bit trickier. However, I had already made changes to a three-inch thick hard copy. The work just needed to be transferred to the electronic version.

It was all going well. I settled into a chair and had the football game running in the background on my computer while dumping email. Then, I received two texts from colleagues. I could hold off one, but the other needed a response. I turned the volume down on the laptop to help me think. A meeting request. Now, I had to view my calendar. It took me a couple of minutes to find an available slot. Shoot. I missed a touchdown. I watched the replay, but any sports fan will tell you that it definitely isn’t the same as seeing the play in live action.

Back to my email, while the draft copy of the book sat on the edge of the desk signaling to me. I pulled up the 76,000 word document and channeled my productive self. I wanted to finish three chapters. It was time for the opening jump ball, yet the football game had nearly seven minutes left in the first half. I could hear the cheers of the fans. I abandoned the document to watch. The football battle was all tied up. Meantime, buckets were now being exchanged at the arena. Yes, I had both games running on my 17-inch screen. Not exactly the ideal way to watch.

Ultimately, I put the editing off until both games had finished up, somewhere after 9 p.m. I hadn’t considered the evening a textbook case in multitasking until I came across an article titled, “The #1 Productivity Killer? Multitasking,” written by Ben Meer. The irony was that I saw the online piece at 4 a.m. the morning following my attempt to mix work and play the prior evening. I kid you not.

Maybe Alexa or Siri were aware of my escapades and were sending me a message. Or maybe it was my inner voice telling me that I was trying to do too much. Nevertheless, the article about productivity was based in four themes: 1. There is a high cost to pay when switching tasks. On average it takes 23 minutes to refocus between activities; 2. Screw-ups, according to the article’s author. I think that one is self-explanatory; 3. Creativity drain, a result of not concentrating on one thing at a time; and, 4. Diminished memory, the idea that your brain doesn’t receive, process, and store information well when being pulled in multiple directions.

Mr. Meer isn’t the only one writing about such ideas, and honestly, anyone taking a hard look at their own multitasking approach can probably come to the same conclusion. I did. The consequence of the evening was that while I did clean up my email, I didn’t fully enjoy either game, and ultimately, I had a late night completing the book updates.

Multitasking is like missing the field goal. You think they’ve got it, until the screams from the crowd distract the kicker, the ball hits the goal post, and it bounces out. You don’t put any points on the scoreboard.

Categories: Consequence