Why Multitasking Is Suboptimal and How You Can Achieve More Through Single Tasking
Imagine that you’re at a dinner party with music in the background playing. There are two people that are vying for your attention and both are speaking to you simultaneously — one complaining about their colleague at work and the other about their start up challenges. They’re oblivious to each other, focusing only on you and whether you’re listening. Now imagine doing that for 1 hour.
You’ll not have heard as much as you would like to have and you’ll feel pretty drained after just an hour. Why? Because you’re basically just switching from person to person as oppose to listening to both at the same time (unless you’re one of the rare ones). And trying to juggle this constantly will leave your brain feeling fried.
The Cost of Multitasking
This is the picture I have in my mind whenever I decide to split my focus to try to be more productive or just for the distraction. The exception to this is when you combine something that requires you to think (like listening), with something that doesn’t (like walking). Even in this case, there will still be some sacrifice because you’re not able to enjoy the walk as much but you will still be getting some of the physical benefits of walking. To use a more stark example, imagine trying to enjoy sex while…
