How much time do you spend using communication tools such as email and messaging, and what is it doing to your productivity?
While you might not realize how much you bounce back and forth between tasks, every time you switch your focus, you’re fragmenting your workday. Communication tools in particular can be a productivity killer.
Recent studies show that the average office employee spends almost a third of the workday reading and responding to email. That number is 10-15% higher for remote employees. One analysis discovered that when we toss in other communication tools such as Slack or Microsoft Teams and that number jumps to 40%. In another study, researchers found that, in general, workers average only 3 minutes on any given task before switching and about 2 minutes using any digital tool before switching.
While many of us think we are multitasking ninjas, neuroscience tells us that there really is no such thing as multitasking.
As incredible as the human brain is, it has a tough time focusing on two demanding tasks simultaneously. Rather, your brain just bounces back and forth between tasks. There is a wealth of research surrounding “task switching.
They maintain that there is a tiny but persistent subset of the population—about 2% —who do not lose productivity, focus, and cognitive ability and in some cases, they can even improve when multiple demands are placed on their attention. According to Strayer, multitasking is more like I.Q.: most people cluster in an average range, but there is a long tail where only a tiny fraction—single digits among thousands—will ever find themselves.
The problem is that we all like to think that we’re in the 2% club. Ironically, people who multitask the least are the best at it, and the people who multitask the most are generally the worst at it. The super multitaskers are true outliers.
For the vast majority of us, interrupting that deck you’re working on to stop and check your inbox does more than just slow you down on the presentation. It actually zaps your cognitive resources. Constant task switching changes the structure of the brain physically and chemically impacting concentration, recall, and overall mental performance.
The more you bounce back and forth between tasks and email throughout the day, the more inefficient you get at each task. According to a University of California-Irvine study, we lose 20 minutes every time we shift our focus from the current task to our inbox. Further research shows that the stress of email overload generates cortisol and that increase of cortisol makes it harder for the prefrontal cortex – the rational, thinking brain that weighs actions against consequences – to do its job effectively. We’ve all been there… pound out a response to an email and hit send before stopping to think about how that message may be received or whether that message should be sent at all.
Research shows that the single most effective way to boost your productivity is to manage your inbox the same way you manage other tasks in your day.
Rather than attending to it every time a message pops up, turn off your notifications. Schedule blocks of time on your calendar specifically for email and treat it as you would any other meeting.
The 4 Most Common Multitasking Personalities
Some of us have a harder time staying focused for extended periods of time than others. But, new studies indicate that the tendency to multitask may be baked into our personalities. Strayer and his team found four types of people with a greater tendency to get caught in the multitasking trap:
Approach-oriented or Reward-focused: Persons with a strong approach orientation, that is, a strong reward or gain-focused motivational orientation, may be especially enticed to take on multiple tasks because of the high potential rewards. In contrast, persons who are avoidance-oriented, that is, who are risk-averse and sensitive to losses or punishments, may be more inclined to focus on a singular task rather than multitask because of the higher potential losses and greater effort associated with trying to do more.
High-sensation Seeker: High sensation seekers may be especially apt to multitask for the sake of the more varied and complex sensations that are afforded by multiple vs. singular tasks. Impulsivity is a complex construct that is commonly defined a as a predisposition toward rapid, unplanned reactions to internal or external stimuli without regard to the negative consequences of these reactions.
2% Club Member: These people are convinced they are in that tiny sliver of master multitaskers. People who chronically multitask are not those who are the most capable of multitasking effectively. To the contrary, task performance is negatively correlated with self-reported multitasking activity.
Easily Distracted: Across all analyses, multitasking was most strongly associated with attentional impulsivity. Thus, the people who are most likely to multitask appear to be those who have difficulty focusing attention or concentrating on a single task.
The Bottom Line: According to these researchers, people don’t multitask because they’re good at it. They do it because they are more distracted.
Fascinating!
Re “Reaction time slowed, attention decreased to the point where they’d miss more than half the things they’d otherwise see such as a change in the speed limit, a billboard, or a child by the road.” We are headed to my in-laws in Maryland for the holiday and take 95 south most of the way. New Jersey is a strict no-texting state. Electronic signs above the road frequently warn drivers that “That text could be your last.” Good, they don’t want distracted drivers. But at the same time, numerous electronic billboards with their rotating messages punctuate the highway, encouraging drivers to “Look here! Look again!” Of course, there is tax revenue to be derived from the billboards, so I guess the state is willing to overlook the distraction — and the contradiction in its messages to drivers.
Anyway, back to your fine article, I range back and forth between intense focus on a single task and looking like a mogul skier, flitting from one task to another.