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Is Multi-Tasking Helping or Hurting Your Business’s Bottom Line?
By admin | October 25, 2008
Is Multi-Tasking Helping or Hurting Your Business’s Bottom Line?
(And 7 Ways to Get Better at It…)
Face it- we all do it- Multi-Tasking!
In fact, chances are, if you’re a woman in north America, then it’s a badge of honor to brag about how good you are at it!
Write the Proposal while talking to a customer on the phone while considering what to make for dinner while encouraging your child to “try that homework problem again.”
It’s so that we can get more done all at once, we can save time, right?…
(Yeah, me too sometimes).
So, how do we get better at it?
Well, here’s the skinny on Multi-tasking: If you’re a chronic multi-tasker, especially where your business is concerned, you’re probably hurting your productivity, business, and your bottom line!
Plus, it’s annoying to those people with whom you’re splitting your time, because they can tell that you’re not entirely “with them” (unless it’s your children, in which case they expect you to be able to do five things at once)!
And don’t you just feel burned out after a long-string of multi-tasking taskings?… I mean, where did the fun and passion of what we do go?!
I’ll tell you where- it seeped right out of our brains and hearts at the same time that our focus did the same thing.
We’re trying to do five things at once, sometimes because we look for instant gratification of accomplishment in the middle of a big project by detaching and momentarily focusing on some other task.
Consider this:
A scientific study mentioned by Tim Ferris (the “4-Hour-Work-Week-Guy) was once conducted that tested the efficacy of multitasking. ‘Know what they found? Multi-tasking lowers your IQ more than smoking marijuana! (This is according to The British Institute of Psychiatry)
You wouldn’t hire a “pothead” for your business,would you?
So why be one in your own business?
Here’s why multi-tasking dumbs you down, and actually causes you to spend more time on all combined tasks when trying to do them all at once (as opposed to focusing on one thing at a time):
Brain activation for listening is cut in half if the person is trying to process visual input at the same time as listening, for example.
The above-mentioned study showed that checking your email while performing another creative task decreases your IQ in the moment 10 points. That’s like not sleeping for 36 hours! Or, having smoked a “joint”- twice- before getting on the phone with that client!
It then takes 20 minutes to get back to the same mind-set of our original task when we let ourselves get distracted,and it may not be as good.
So that brilliant thought you had about that proposal you were writing before taking that call?… It’s now going to take you 20 minutes to get back to flow and same frame of mind as when you started writing, and possibly twice as long to solve that customer challenge than if you were just focused on it. And you still won’t know what to make for dinner nor will your kid’s homework won’t be done because they want you to take a look again.
How can you be a better multi-tasker?
Answer: Don’t!
What you can do in this age of Multi-tasking, especially when our lives seem to be set up to function as a multi-tasker, is to integrate each of the following 7 steps into your business and home life, in order to be more effective, more productive, and to have better over-all results:
1. Work on projects only during focused blocks of uninterrupted time. Peter Drucker, from his book, The Effective Executive, recomends working in focused blocks of at least hours at a time.
2. Schedule your most important work during your most productive times. (I’m a morning person when it comes to writing and computer work, but can be a people person all day long, so long as I don’t have some major projects hanging over my head!)
3. Train those around you- youremployees, your co-workers, your family etc… to not interrupt. You set the schedule as to when you’ll be returning e-mails, phone calls, helping with homework (for you home-based entrepreneurs), and when you will not…
4. Keep marching toward your goal, even if not seeing instant gratification….
5. Take mini-breaks (inbetween those focused blocks of productivity) and you’ll likely find a surge in creativity, focus and productivity.
6. Take care of your body in order to do a better job with your mind. This means eating well, drinking plenty of water, and excercising. Doing this alone will help your ability to focus better, and make sure that your energetic presence is all that it can be!
7. Meditate. Yep, I’m saying that meditating will help you to get more done too. (And, by the way, This doesn’t have to be the “lotus position, palms up, humming Ommm” kind of meditation- just do what’s comfortable for you)
Why? Meditating helps to clarify your challenges and all of the issues swirling around in your head… and to bring the answers to your challenges right to the top! We can create triggers for our peak performance states, and through meditation learn how to funnel emotion into deep focus and creativity.
Peter Drucker emphasizes, “To be effective is the job of the executive.”
Now, are you or are you not the executive of your business?
“Intelligence, imagination and knowledge are essential resources (for executives)… but only effectiveness converts them into results.”
Okay, now that you know the steps, while you’re reading this post- put down the phone, turn off the stove and take a deep breath.
In… Out… In… Out…
Now, doesn’t that feel better?
Now you can start being more effective by putting a stop to multi-tasking, scheduling your projects into uninterrupted blocks of time, and integrate the other 6 steps above.
When you do this, I promise you that your overall results (including the bottom line) will improve dramatically! Not only will you be more productive, but you’ll also find yourself having more fun with everything that you do, more of the passion behind “what you do” will flow back in, and the people that you work, live and play with will all appreciate a more-connected and more-present you!
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Topics: Personl Growth, Women in Business |
April 15th, 2009 at 9:49 am
I don’t know how you can do it. I always have too many things on the go at the same time. Some things have to get the chop all together.
August 24th, 2009 at 5:43 pm
I love meditating! Nothing helps me focus better and remember everything I need. It’s the most soothing part of my day!
October 22nd, 2009 at 11:01 pm
I actually just learned in my Principles of Management college class about this very topic. When I think about it, I have to agree. It may SEEM like you get more done when you Multi-Task, but in reality things go much quicker, easier, and more accurate when you focus on them one at a time.