The Myth of Multitasking Summary

and Review
by Dave Crenshaw

Has The Myth of Multitasking by Dave Crenshaw been sitting on your reading
list? Pick up the key ideas in the book with this quick summary.
How many different apps do you have open on your phone right now?
How many tabs on your internet browser? And how many different e-mail
threads and Facebook messages?

If you’re like most people, you probably have a lot of each of these – too
many, in fact. The myth of multitasking has seeped into every aspect of
our lives, not only in terms of how we communicate but also the way we
work and live the rest of our day-to-day lives.

And multitasking might be a bigger problem than you think; not only is
splitting our time into fragments not helpful or efficient, it is actually
counterproductive.

In this summary of The Myth of Multitasking by Dave Crenshaw, you’ll

learn

 why “multitasking” isn’t even an accurate name for what it

describes;
 why you should set designated office hours; and
 how you can find more time for the things you love.
The Myth of Multitasking Key Idea #1: There’s
no such thing as multitasking, only active and
passive switchtasking.

These days, with more ways than ever to be connected and communicate
with one another, it can feel like there’s an endless supply of tasks that
demand to be juggled all at once.

Appropriately enough, the traditional way of dealing with multiple tasks at

once was to multitask.

But here’s the thing: multitasking is a lie. A more accurate name for this
method of working is switchtasking, and it is an inefficient and inadequate
way of getting things done.

The human brain is an impressive thing to behold, but it doesn’t perform

well when you attempt to focus on more than one thing at a time.

There are plenty of studies to back this up, including a recent one from
Vanderbilt University. Researchers couldn’t find a single piece of
neurological evidence to suggest that the human brain is capable of taking
on more than one task at a time.

What the brain can do is switch back and forth, from one task to another.
It can do this quickly enough to give you the impression that it is
multitasking, but what it is really doing is switchtasking.

Now, there are two different kinds of switchtasking: you can either
make active switches or passive switches.

Active switches happen in situations you create yourself, such as deciding

to check your e-mail while talking to someone on the phone. These would
be switches that you are actively making.

Passive switches happen in situations that are initiated by something or

someone else. An example of this would be when you’re facing a deadline
and, in the middle of preparing documents, a coworker decides to stop by
and start talking to you. Here, you’re being asked to switch your attention
between the documents and your coworker.

In the book summarys ahead, we’ll take a closer look at why these
switches are so harmful to your work and what you can do to reduce them
in the workplace.

The Myth of Multitasking Key Idea #2:

Switchtasking isn’t an effective or efficient way
to get things done.

At one time or another, you may have been proud of your ability to switch
between multiple tasks and highlighted this talent on your resume.

But the truth is, switchtasking isn’t an effective or time-saving way of

working.

For a good example, let’s look at a typical workday scenario:

Helen is a hardworking CEO for a successful retail clothing company. But

every hour of every day, she’ll usually have to deal with multiple
interruptions.

A typical scenario would find Helen trying to compose an e-mail when her
assistant, Sally, interrupts with an important question. Since Helen needs
to get her e-mails out quickly, at first, she’ll attempt to continue typing and
switch her attention back and forth between Sally and the e-mail.

However, since Sally’s question are generally complex, Helen will

eventually be forced to stop typing and give the question her full attention
in order to come up with an answer. Once she gives Sally an answer,
Helen can switch back to the e-mail, but it is important to recognize that it
will take her a few minutes before she can get back to the level of focus
she had previously.
This is why switching between tasks is ultimately inefficient and a waste of
time, because whether you are making active or passive switches, you will
inevitably need to stop one train of thought to start another.

When Helen realized she couldn’t give her e-mail or Sally’s question the
attention they each required and deserved, she had to stop what she was
doing. And no matter what, switching takes extra time to focus on the new
task and then refocus on the old task, both of which eat up valuable time
from the day.

You’re probably wondering, “How can I avoid switching? Aren’t these

interruptions just a fact of life?”

In the book summarys ahead we’ll find out how you can minimize the
amount of switching in your day, and maximize the efficiency of your
work.

The Myth of Multitasking Key Idea #3: Avoid

interruptions by making yourself available to
employees and coworkers at regularly
scheduled times.

Let’s say you’re the busy CEO of a successful company. What steps could
you take to reduce interruptions and minimize switches?

One of the most common reasons for someone to come knocking on your
door is that they don’t know when they’ll be able to get your attention
otherwise.

The solution here is to set a schedule of recurring meetings with the

coworkers who need your input the most. This way, they’ll know that they
can save their questions until the next scheduled meeting and will get
their answer soon enough. And since they won’t have to knock on your
door, you’ll get uninterrupted time to focus on your work between these
meetings.

For our beleaguered CEO, Helen, once she set up a daily meeting with
Sally at 10:00 a.m. every morning, she no longer had to hear Sally knock
on her door a dozen times every day.

Another way to keep interruptions at bay is to set a regular period when

your office door is open to any employees who may need your help.

Most stores aren’t open 24/7, and that works out just fine because
customers are well aware of when they can show up to get what they
need. The same concept can work for your office: set up regular office
hours during which anyone can show up to ask questions or get the
clarifications they need.

Be clear about these times by posting the hours on your door and sending
a mass email to everyone in your company or organization.

You can also take a similar step to take care of those annoying phone calls:
leave an outgoing message on your voicemail that tells callers when they
can expect to get in touch with you.

For example, you could leave a message that says something like, “I’m
currently unavailable, as I’m either in a meeting or with a customer. Please
know that I check my messages daily at 10:00 a.m., 2:00 p.m. and 4:00
p.m., so if you leave a brief message, I will get back to you shortly.”

The Myth of Multitasking Key Idea #4: By

budgeting your time, you can take control of
your schedule and prioritize what’s important.

Think back to last week and ask yourself, “How many hours did I spend
watching TV, sleeping or commuting to and from work – and how many
did I actually spend working?”
Even if you’re passionate about your work, you might not be aware of how
you really spend your time.

This is what Helen, our clothing company CEO, realized after meeting with
a business consultant who asked her to add up her weekly activities.
Helen estimated that, alongside many other tasks, she spent 49 hours
sleeping, 28 hours with her family and 70 hours per week working.

But this was impossible since there are only 168 hours in a week and all of
Helen’s estimates added up to 190.

This revealed a common misconception most people have about how they
spend their time. When Helen reconsidered, she realized that she’d
overestimated the amount of time she spent with her family. Even when
she was at home, Helen was often still working by responding to emails
and reading trade magazines.

By switchtasking between her family and her work, Helen had given
herself the illusion of spending more hours with her family, even though
she wasn’t really present during this time. This realization left Helen
devastated because she loved her family dearly and wanted to prioritize
them above her work.

So, if you want to make sure that you’re spending your time when and
where you want to, create a schedule and make a time budget for the
future.

First of all, be honest and accurate about how you’re currently spending
your time, and write your activities down on the schedule.

This should help you identify the areas that you would like to improve
upon, whether it’s finding more time for family and friends, or perhaps
putting more hours toward a new project that you’d like to focus on.

Next, you can make a future time budget. If you want to spend more time
exercising or with your kids, block off this time so that it will be devoted to
what’s important to you.
The Myth of Multitasking Key Idea #5: Rather
than forcing change, set an example and let
your employees follow.

Let’s put on the CEO hat one more time and find out what can be done to
get your employees to stop switchtasking and start focusing on one task
at a time.

Your first instinct might be to hold a meeting and simply tell everyone to
stop switchtasking – but there’s a more effective way to change people’s
habits.

Since the idea of multitasking has been idealized for so long, getting
people to recognize the better way and change their habits should be seen
as a process.

You can do this by setting an example and allowing your employees to see
firsthand how inefficient switchtasking is and how much time they can
save by focusing on tasks one at a time.

So don’t force change among employees. Establish a personal system that

will go on to influence the larger business system.

As the CEO or division head, your personal system might be different from
how others operate, but once it becomes clear that it provides superior
results, it will become the accepted way of doing business.

So start implementing the anti-switchtasking changes from the previous

book summarys: set regularly scheduled meetings, post regular office
hours and start managing your emails and phone calls in a focused and
deliberate manner.

All of these policies will soon influence broader business protocols in a

positive way.
Employees will notice that your way of operating is reliable and
consistent, while also making you available and responsive to employees
when necessary.

Before long, they’ll be implementing these policies in their own work.

In their interactions with you, it will be clear how effective it is to focus on

one task at a time. And when they inevitably begin to adopt this approach
themselves, it will be even more effective because it wasn’t forced upon
them and they made the choice to do so themselves.

Once this happens, you’ll have a highly efficient business on your hands.