Workflow #5 - Multitasking is a myth
and it's killing your productivity.
I’m still reading How To Take Smart Notes and I’ll admit it’s taking a while for me to get through it, but for good reasons:
It’s hard to find time to read a book with a newborn 🤦🏽♂️ #dadlife
I’m actually taking notes on a book about taking notes… so that adds time and;
There are so many points, ideas, and concepts that have resonated with me that I have been intentional about taking time to think, process, and summarize them.
One of those concepts is ✨✨multitasking✨✨
TL;DR
By the way, these are my thoughts and conclusions about what I read and not necessarily direct quotes from the book.
People don’t really multitask. They shift their focus quickly between different tasks
If you think you’re good at multitasking, it might be because you haven’t compared yourself to a control group that is performing each of the tasks individually while you do them at the same time
Just because we do something repetitively doesn’t necessarily mean we’re good at it
My relationship with multitasking
I always thought I was good at multitasking and incorporated it into many of my personal and professional workflows. I would listen to a podcast while I performed tasks that required thought. I would watch YouTube videos, while I watched TV, while I scrolled through social media.
Welp, turns out I suck at multitasking. In fact, I can’t even hold a conversation with my wife while I fold clothes. She’s called me out on it! Just goes to show how much thought I put into folding clothes, right? 🤣
What have I learned?
I’ve learned that tasks require varying levels of attention. Some tasks you can do without much thought and others require time, attention, and some brainpower. To get the most out of doing multiple tasks at once, you must understand the level of attention each task requires.
For example, I can listen to a podcast while I cook or run. I’m doing two things at once, but listening and interpreting the podcast does not interfere with me making a meal or getting my exercise in. The two tasks require different levels of my attention and I do not run into ‘attention conflict’.
What I can’t do is listen to a podcast and work. My work requires a lot of thought and planning and if I am listening to a podcast at the same time, my attention is being spread across two thought-intensive tasks. If I’m doing this, I am certain that I won’t be able to focus on what I’m working on or remember what I listened to. And what’s the point in that?
I’ve heard and seen people who do thought-intensive work and watch TV at the same time. I have no idea how they do that.
How I’m approaching multitasking moving forward
I want to stop it, to be honest, but I know there will be times where I have lots to get done and will never finish if I approach each task individually. Therefore, I’m developing a system that consists of the following:
✅ Creating a list of tasks (to-do list). This is easy and a lot of people already have one.
💪🏽 Assign each task with a level of effort. This can be a flag of your choosing. Easy, medium, hard; active vs passive task; or identifying how long it would take to complete a task.
📨 Batch tasks together. If you have 5 easy tasks and 1 that requires your full attention, batch the 5 easy tasks together and tackle the 1 task separately
⏰ Set a timer for getting your tasks done. There’s this thing called Parksinson’s law that says work expands to fill the time available for its completion. That is, if you don’t set a time limit to complete a task, you’ll spend more time on it than you need to.
We’ll see how this goes but I’m pretty excited about being able to go through my tasks and filtering for ones that I can do quickly and being able to dedicate time to the ones that require more thoughts.
How do you approach multitasking? Let me know with a comment down below!
This week’s picks
This is a list of apps, articles, things, podcasts, ideas, etc that I liked this week!
Obsidian. I’ve been obsessed with this app this week. Obsidian is a markdown note-taking app for desktops that follows the Zettelkasten method. It allows you to link your notes and created a knowledge map of how everything is intertwined. I could go on about this, but if you want to learn more, you check download it here and watch Nick Milo’s series on the app. It’s… life-changing
I’m a big Matt D’Avella fan and his latest video is about he stays productive all day. It’s refreshing because (of course), there’s no such thing as 100% productive. Things happen, you have to adapt and be happy with where you’re at. Link to the video below.
Building a Second Brain Visual Notes: BASB is a concept created by Thiago Forte that emphasizes created an external system (second brain) to store your thoughts and ideas. He has a course (pretty expensive) but Maggie Appleton was the real MVP and summarized it beautifully. If we work together and you’re reading this, you’ll hear about this when I’m back from paternity leave 😂
Read books from your public for free using Libby! Libby is an app that lets you connect your library card and provides immediate access to your library’s digital catalog. It’s awesome. It’s free and you should definitely support your local library and check it out :)
Thanks to the new subscribers!
I’ve had a few new subscribers over the past week so just wanted to say hi, thanks for subscribing, and keep sharing!
If there’s a topic you’d like me to talk about, let me know.