The Intimate Mind Succeeds, The Multitasking Mind Cannot

John Halderman writes about personal growth and online marketing , helping people take command of their income, personal growth and wellness. He is also on Twitter

Anyone working building an online business is certainly looking for ways to get the most done in the shortest period of time. And one of the most common traits people pick up is multitasking. Seems logical, do more at once – get more done. However . . .

The productivity of multitasking is a myth! Many think that multitasking is necessary in this day with how busy our lives are today. But the interesting thing is that our mind still works the same way it did 500 years ago. The advent of the computer chip has not changed the way the human mind functions. Marketer Glenn Hopkins just put out a video talking about the perils of multitasking which is brilliant!

Why? Because the human mind can really only do one thing at a time. Believe me, do the research yourself if you want, you’ll find it. So, what actually happens when we multitask it our mind jumps quickly from one task or topic to another and back and forth. Now this may seem fine on the surface because it appears that you are able to maintain all the activities together, but are you?

There are two main issues with multitasking that greatly relate to your overall effectiveness.

First:

The time it actually takes to accomplish a task increases. You can look at this in two scenarios.

Short cycling: When you flip from one thing to another rapidly you are actually wasting time with a natural brain function every time you do. Every time you change your focus, there is a little time required for your mind to kind of catch up and reorient itself to what you want to do. So, if you are changing your focus every 10 minutes your mind requires this reorientation time every 10 minutes. Now this may seem inconsequential but it adds up, particularly when you couple it with the second issue.

Long Cycling: When you work for longer periods of time between switching tasks but before completing them, which is what Glenn addresses in his video, you are extending the point of completion of all tasks. As Glenn indicated, if one task is key to your business such as generating income, you are just delaying that from occurring.

Another aspect of this delaying to consider is motivation and frustration. The sooner you realize that even a small positive result the better you feel about what you are doing. This long cycling many would not consider multitasking but it is as it also reduces your productivity and satisfaction. Frustration arises when you are doing one thing and thinking you should be doing another. This can be common when multitasking too much.

Second:

The depth of your focus suffers affecting your results greatly. When you are multitasking, your mind is not really fully engaged in any one topic, you are actually just skimming the surface. Think about this, when you have gone into deep contemplation with an idea, are you thinking about three other things, no. And isn’t this the kind of thinking where you are able to get deeper into a subject, understanding the nuances and detail, and where your intuition starts kicking out new, fresh and clever ideas?

These things I just mentioned are not going on when you are multitasking! This state of light focus contributes to feelings of confusion and to a reduced ability to focus on anything for long periods of time. Your dominant behavior dictates your mental habits.

You will not perform as well at anything when you are not properly focused, you can’t. You’re brain is not completely intimate with the one subject. You are literally just skimming the surface of what is possible when you are not focused. As Glenn says, “it reduces your IQ”. Well, it doesn’t reduce your potential IQ, but it does reduce your functional IQ when you don’t allow your brain to become intimate with a subject.

So to combine the two issues on just one point, every time you are changing topics your brain needs a moment to reorient. Now, the shorter the time you spend with a topic the less able your mind is to get deep into focus as it should for full performance. Have you ever skipped a rock across the surface of a lake, watching it bounce off the surface several times? That is what your brain is doing when you are multitasking, skipping across the surface.

Here is the Zen of it. As the rock only fully understands it is a rock when allowed to sink into the water, so is it with your thoughts.

Focus works, it’s how work, or anything, should be done.
Focus is mental intimacy, multi-tasking is uncommitted.

So how does one change, you must break the habit of multitasking through better planning and scheduling of your time. There are things that must be done each day and there are longer-term projects to weave together which is why it’s so easy to fall into multitasking. Only you can find the right balance between your different tasks, but keeping in mind what is actually happening with multitasking you should be better able to get the most of your time and efforts.

And living the dream of working from home can make this even tougher. Not only are there business distractions, there are those at home as well. You’ve heard this before, be in the moment. Fully engage in a singular focus with whatever you are doing. Learn to allow your mind to focus more deeply on what you are doing right now. And when you have planned better, this will become easier. When building a business your time is valuable, pay attention to how you use it.

In closing, remember, we have all seen how a driver on the cell phone is not always a good driver. Their attention is quickly going back and forth between focusing on the call and the road. . . Usually! Have you passed a car going far slower than the speed of traffic and seen the driver on the phone? They are focusing predominately on the phone call and can’t properly regulate the gas pedal at the same time.

How do you want to work . . . and drive?

Comments, something to add? What do you think?