lots of questions are asked about
multitasking for example does
multitasking kill my productivity? is
multitasking good for me? am i a good
multitasker or should I just quit doing
it? and of course the one that's probably
asked most often does it actually work?
I see multitasking articles posted every
single day claiming to be able to teach
you how to be a better multitasker they
often talk about multitasking benefits
that are supposed to increase your
productivity while ignoring every
multitasking study that claims otherwise
and that's why I'm here today I'm going
to answer some of the most commonly
asked questions about multitasking as
well as give you some tips on how to
stop doing it
so first here are the answers to the
most commonly asked questions about
multitasking question one does multitasking
actually work
not exactly studies have shown that you
can't truly multitask but your brain is
capable of switching from one task to
another at an extremely fast rate a good
example would be when you're walking and
talking with somebody
your brain is actually switching between
those two tasks but it does it so
quickly that we don't actually notice it
however this doesn't work for more
complex tasks like trying to figure out
a complex math problem while
simultaneously organizing a group of
unrelated people for an unrelated
project question two does multitasking
kill my productivity absolutely and
unequivocally yes there are tons of
studies from Stanford University, MIT, and
many other places besides to back this
up the amount it kills your productivity
does vary from study to study but it
does slow you down to some degree
regardless however it may actually be a
little bit worse than most of us think
which leads us to the next question is
multitasking good for me
no no it is not in fact a study from the
university of london actually found that
multitasking can lower your IQ by as
many as 15 points and since the average
IQ scores tend to range between 90 and
110 points that 15-point hit is a pretty
big deal in my book and finally should i
quit multitasking
ideally yes because in addition to the
lower IQ i just mentioned researchers
from the United Kingdom have found that
multitasking increasing your body's
production of the stress hormone
cortisol and can lead to increased heart
rate and blood pressure which could
cause you some serious health problems
down the road
however while all this information is
great to know it doesn't actually help
us fix the problem
how can we stop or at least limit our
time spent multitasking in a world that
seems to demand it from us every day
I've tried many things but there were
three tricks that really stood out above
the rest
the first is the most obvious eliminate
the potential for distraction as much as
you possibly can turn off your
cellphone, close your office door if
you have one, and for the love of God
clean up your office space when i first
tried this in college I was actually
amazed at how big a difference cleaning
up my desk made i have a desk at work
that i shared with a few co-workers and
there was always some new piece of
sports memorabilia or stat sheet lying
around
I'd still do work there but my
productivity paled in comparison to what
I got done when I went to the library
which had a much cleaner workspace the
second trick is one that I've covered
before and it's called time blocking. time
blocking is when you set certain times
to complete certain tasks during the day
but for this to work best you need to
make sure you have your time block set
before the day begins
however this technique in my experience
is simple to understand but not always
simple to implement when i first tried
it I struggled to stick to my blocks and
the thing that helped me most was to
adopt the mindset that until I finished
whatever task i was supposed to be doing
at the time everything else should be
seen as a distraction and avoided like
the plague
when I have this mindset I find myself
not only sticking to my box more
consistently but actually finishing the
task well before the block was over the
third trick is to practice mindfulness
meditation is a great way to start doing
this and science is finding numerous
benefits to meditating regularly even if
it is just for 10 to 20 minutes a day
some of the benefits are increased gray
matter in your brain which can improve
your memory as well as yourself control
it can also decrease stress and even
improve your ability to focus. I'll leave
a link in the description below that
lists more of the benefits of meditation
because honestly there's just far too
many to list in this video.
So what questions do you have about
multitasking have you ever tried any of
the tips that I mentioned or are there
some others that you tried that work for
you let me know about them in the
comments section below and if you
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I upload every single friday so until
next time guys remember don't let
anything stop you from taking your life
to the next level get out there and
crush it!