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The arrest request fell into my inbox. According to a new survey, a quarter of Britons are sending emails from LOO because they are so pushed over time. “Relaxation is a thing of the past,” laments the press release. This says a third of respondents continue to work on their mobile phones in the evening. “While watching a TV show.” ah.
In a characteristic of “overwhelming” modern life, such reports mean that harassed workers are forced to multitask to maintain balloon demands. But when 13% of respondents admitted they had a weekly online shop during business meetings, I wonder what happened to their boss on Saturdays and to them. Have we reached peak procrastination? This meeting is now an adjoin to real life performances. I walked my dog and cleaned the house.
Multitasking advocates want to remind Archimedes has Eureka’s moments while he is taking a bath. But he had made his mind wander while he was soaking. He turned off the camera and wasn’t sitting there so he didn’t fly while others were trying.
I recently asked the painter for some decoration quotes. We chatted while he looked at the various walls. Since the pandemic, he told me, he was surprised how often he arrived home to find a grown man sitting on his couch. This causes a new complexion to occur when “overwork” occurs.
These days, if you’re doing one thing at a time, you think you’re a prodder. But 20 years of evidence tells us that switching tasks is making fun of most people. A 2006 University of Utah survey found that talking on the phone while driving is just as dangerous as being drunk. The response will be slower. The same team recently reported that the car’s “infotainment” system is even more dangerous than the phone in terms of distraction.
Our brains are primarily wired to do one thing at a time. As we get older, even walking and talking starts to be difficult. This does not mean that life must be monotonous sequences. According to the London Kings College’s Centre for Attention Research, many workers enjoy switching between tasks, which is positive. In fact, “interleaving” – switching topics and then returning later – is a rage at school as a proven technique for exam revisions.
However, an increase in anxiety levels means it is important to focus the conversation. Difficulty intensive correlates highly with some of the anxiety disorders recognized by the American Psychiatric Association. And we tend to overestimate our ability to multitask. In fact, those who tend to juggle should do that the least. This is because research shows that they are more impulsive and have less executive control.
I’m worried that I’ll fall into the latter group, but I recently found two simple hacks. I have only tried to check emails twice a day, but that doesn’t suit my personality or my work life. Instead, I went back to handwriting on my to-do list. The presence of a list releases my brain from suffering, as long as the task is detailed in sufficient detail. And when I use pen and paper, it seems to be etching it deeper into my subconscious. This is supported by new research that discovers that it creates more elaborate brain connections when writing than when typing. These connections are essential for memory organization. This makes it essential for children to continue writing.
He also experiments with what Cal Newport calls the “pull system” in his book Slow Productivity. Essentially, you will focus ruthlessly on your top three projects, avoiding premature communication, meetings on messages related to later projects, and meetings on meetings whenever possible. Only when you finish one of the top three will you pull the next one into that slot.
We all have different versions of this system. And I think it’s just called “focus.” But following my own version, I have actually generated revenue, moved things forward, and reflected me how often the distinction is lost between jobs that have meaning. Work that is a process. This means pre-meeting, compliance training modules, and the ever-increasing “all reply” email chains. The first kind of job is much more satisfying. The second is the kind of thing an office worker reports walking his dog and going in the bathroom, and my new decorator friend said he’s happy he’s less in his physical job. It may be.
I think this kind of process task is more enjoyable when done by checking your football scores on music, text, scrolling, or intermittently. The problem is that people switching multiple channels, called heavy media multitaskers by Stanford University researchers, show worse memory and reduced executive control, even when focusing on a single job.
You will see that there is a “Super Tasker” that can handle multiple tasks without losing efficiency. In brain scans, this group will have less brain activity, not more, when additional tasks are added. Unfortunately, only about 2% of us are in that category. So, accepting that the span of attention is not infinite and treating it with care will be kind to yourself and your employer.
camilla.cavendish@ft.com
