Multi-tasking has become the extreme sport of the 21st Century. Everybody participates and almost everybody believes that he or she is doing more than one thing at the same time.
The problem is that when you're multi-tasking you're just switching rapidly between things. That's wearing on your poor brain and your emotions.
Here are five tips to help you do it better and at less cost to your peace of mind and your productivity.
Eliminate as much multi-tasking as you can. The more of it you do, the less effective you are likely to be at accomplishing all those tasks.
Choose tasks that are as simple as possible. The simpler they are, the less time and concentration you need to invest in starting up every time you switch.
Choose tasks that use different areas of the brain. That's like doing physical tasks that use different muscles. You won't get as tired and frustrated and you'll be more effective.
Spend as much time on each task as possible. Try to work long enough to complete something, so you have to continually spend energy on the start-up stage for the same task.
Take breaks. Try to take a twenty minute break every ninety minutes or so. You'll probably find that you get more done than when you worked straight through.
16 February 2004
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