This is a biggie!
And I am sure you are guilty of this.
It is cognitively impossible to multitask!
You can not listen to a podcast while writing an email. You can’t write a strategy for a client while watching the latest episode of Blacklist on Netflix.
In theory you shouldn’t switch between tabs on your browser (he says with 17 tabs open while writing this)!
So how do you get everything done?
Easily- one at a time.
It has been proven that trying to multitask not only decreases the efficacy of the output but increases stress, reduces sleep, increases anxiety and leads to medical conditions including heart attacks.
You can only do one thing at a time. So do it and do it well!
We are all guilty of this and the world we live in doesn’t make it easier either but if you really want to achieve success try doing it literally one piece at a time. Stop writing the email and listening to the podcast.
Although this will take an hour instead of maybe 45 mins not only will the email be better in both quality and content you will also learn from the podcast that which you had hoped to hear.
Don’t believe me? Try the following:
Play something spoken like a podcast or audiobook and while it’s playing read something on a totally different topic like a newspaper article. Have someone listen to the clip before hand and read the article (not at the same time) and write down 5 questions 3 from the podcast and 2 from the newspaper article. Make sure the questions are about pertinent facts like the colour of the 4th car that went through the entrance of the shopping centre or how many people were standing outside the bus stop etc.
Then have them ask you for the answers as you finish. My bet is you get 2 right, 3 at most. This will prove to you that you really can’t multitask.
You will be amazed at how you think you can and have been able to do this accurately in the past – but you can’t, sorry!
Now think back how much you have probably got wrong in the past!
BL
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