Multi-Tasking is Not Productive, Here’s Why

Now that holiday period is over, and work has started rolling aggressively, here is a productive tip to consider, Don’t Multitask.
Many research studies, time after time, have shown that multi-tasking is not productive. Multitasking takes a mental and physical toll on our work routine. Let’s take a look at some common reasons as to why multitasking is bad.
Errors & Mistakes:
“To err is to human”, wrote Alexander Pope, But there are ways to reduce the “err-or”.
While having multiple excel sheets, email drafts or browser tabs open, you are bound to make mistakes. You might enter the wrong number in excel sheet or different sheet altogether. You might make grammatical errors and not proofread the email while sending them. This not only creates inefficiency, but it also portrays a bad image of your management skills.
To avoid this, only open those file, folders or application which are needed at the moment. Do not try to do all the things in one go.
Incompletion of the task:
While multitasking, you tend to forget the progress made for multiple activities. This leads to delays and eventually, the task remains incomplete by end of the day. It is vital to complete as many tasks as possible in a day but doing all of them at the same time is a huge mental drain.
The easiest solution is to prioritize the sequence of the task. Not all tasks are urgent. I repeat. NOT ALL TASKS ARE URGENT. One task at a time and give your 100% towards it, and you will be able to complete your to-do list within the day.
Lack of Concentration:
Multitasking leads to lack of focus as you are contemplating how to get the work done. This leads to a chaotic mental block and reduces your attention span on completing the task.
Do one task at a time and take a break in between. Close your eyes, walk around the office, relax your muscles. Your concentration level will be better, and the mental block will vanish.
Task looks Tedious:
Multitasking between long term and short term tasks feels like none of them is ever going to end and feeling of overwhelming rises. While it’s important to maintain a balance between, doing them together is not the right approach.
Allot a time slot for your long-term goal and embed that in your work routine on daily basis and complete your short-term tasks in the remaining time. This way both, long as well as short-term tasks will be completed and you will not feel overwhelmed.
If you chase two rabbits, you will catch neither one.
Russian Proverb
