MULTI-TASKING 101(-ish)
A case for the strategy of chasing several dreams at a time
How do I handle working on several projects at a time? The most honest reply to this question is “I don’t”. That’s also the quickest and least interesting. Aside from the fact that it would probably qualify me for the prize for shortest article on Medium (really coveted! I’m sure), such an answer would be to no use for us here.
Whenever I’m asked when have I started working, I always reply when I was 14 years old. That summer I had my very first internship, my first taste at being a professional and adding value to a company. As far as I can remember, I have always been juggling between several activities since then. Whether school+work, or corporate job+side hustle, or multiple entrepreneurial projects at a time. I had a conversation once with a guy who has a similar professional profile than me currently, only with much more experience. And we spent some time exchanging our views on the pros and cons of chasing several dreams at a time, but also on how we handle the time constraints and anxiety that come with that choice.
DREAMER OR BELIEVER
Let’s address the elephant in the room right away. Is it true that one is less efficient working on several projects than focusing the entirety of her/his brain and resources on a sole project? What is the success rate of one compared to the other? Through some quick research (“Google is your friend”), here is what I found:
“The results showed that the brain splits in half and causes us to forget details and make three times more mistakes when given two simultaneous goals.” from this article from USC Dornsife detailing the results of studies of our prefrontal cortex when dealing with several tasks at the same time. They even say multitasking affects our IQ. Not good news for people like me.
Also,
Being able to perform multiple tasks at work is believed to be a strength, yet a study in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance (Vol. 27, №4) indicates that multitasking is less efficient because it takes extra time to shift mental gears every time a person switches between tasks. Same article as above. It is really complete, I recommend it.
Based on both of these assessments, multiple-dream chasers like me can worry a bit. Fair enough because it does make sense that the average human being would be more efficient focusing on one goal only. However, my personal experience has let me know that the more we grow into adulthood, the more goals, responsibilities and there I say, burden, we have to bear. So being able to focus on one unique thing at a time is somewhat utopic if you ask me. The article I reference above also says the following:
Rather than bouncing back and forth between tasks every other minute or so, dedicate chunks of time to a certain task.
This lets me know that there is a method to multitasking efficiently. Like they say, it starts with proper and rigorous time management. Following are the other points that I discovered while trying to solve that mystery for myself.
KNOW WHO YOU ARE
My personal belief is that it depends solely on your psychological behavior and your focus patterns. I personally get bored real fast and despise monotony at work. I would rather do a new thing every day than mastering one thing and doing only that. At least, that’s how I feel right now. It can evolve. At the same time, I try to do only the things I feel like I can be good at. So, there’s a complex, permanent and ever evolving self-evaluation that comes into play when I have to decide what new activity to take parts in, what project to work on at the moment.
I guess what I am trying to say by explaining my own thought process is: in order to find and implement the strategy and planning that works for you, you first have to know exactly who you are as a person. Are you a hard worker, do you prefer long and meticulous hours or short and intense stints of focus are enough? Are you a procrastinator (Me!), do you give up to laziness sometimes and fatigue (Also Me!), does your mental succumb to your physical? What drives you? What usually triggers your appetite for results and pushes you into work sessions?
I believe everyone with a plan to execute and/or a goal in mind should be able to have accurate answers on these questions about themselves. And then implement the productivity strategy that fits your personality best. I must add, it’s a perpetual process of trying things, evaluating whether they work for you or not.
STANDARD METHOD OR CUSTOM TECHNIQUES
Some of the most clever and successful people have obviously tackled the issues of productivity and multi-tasking. I have heard or read all of the following:
- The very successful people manage their calendar by slots of 5min. You better be fast and efficient to pass critical information on to them
- Several apps and softwares help you write down a todo list as a note, check it off when complete, remind you when it is due. Use them and play the game of checking as many boxes as possible in a decided timeframe. Remind yourself of how much you have accomplished by some times rather looking at the list of checked boxes than the icomplete tasks
- Filter and prioritize / Follow the money. Dedicate your full energy and focus on one topic at the time, only the one that adds the most value according to you. Make yourself a polyvalent factory worker who, despite being dependable on more than one steps of the chain, will only ever work on the same part for a given predefined period. That does not mean that you have only one goal in mind. It means you focus on one task only for as long as you had decided you should work on it.
- David Allen’s Getting things done teaches habits that help you clear your mind and prioritize effectively ; Stephen Covey’s The Seven habits of highly effective people has a title that says it all; the litterature and mediatheque about productivity is humongous. Anybody who is looking for methods, inspiration or techniques to apply to themselves, should not run short of information.
What I have tried to convey in this article is that there is hope and more importantly there are solutions for people who work on several projects at the same time. It might make things more difficult and, probably, postpone the expected success, but I also believe it is more realistic not to put all your eggs in the same basket. Sure, that goes a little bit against the concept of leap of faith that an entrepreneur has to take when starting her/his venture. But some of us still need to know they have a plan B or C in case plan A is not all that.
I have to admit that this article took me a lot of time to write. For the simple fact that I am not sure I have found the perfect technique for myself yet. But, as I said, it starts with knowing who you are and experimenting new techniques regularly so you can know which one does wonders for you. Currently, I use a combination of priotizing the tasks per project, using EverNote to write down everything I have to do for each one, and working on each project by stints that last a few hours after the end of a day at my corporate job.
The road is long and there is still a lot to learn before success. That’s the reason why it is excinting.
Thank you for reading this. If you apreciate my point of view or my input, please follow, clap, share. Also, you can read my other articles in my publication FoundersRooms.
