It’s Time To Kill Multi-Tasking

What’s the outlook for productive creativity in the coming year? In two phrases: Multi-tasking is dead! Long live single-minded focus!We recently pinged the 99U twitter audience for feedback on how they’re adapting their productivity regimes to be better, faster, smarter, and just generally more awesome in 2011. When the results came in, every single productivity resolution voiced seemed to relate to the rejection of multi-tasking.There were three overarching themes:

1. Getting aggressive with time management.

With email, Facebook, Twitter, etc ready and willing to absorb as much attention and effort as we give them, a growing number of entrepreneurs and creatives are employing a variety of techniques to more aggressively manage their time and attention. A few ideas we heard:

Employing Momento to track “resistance” moments. Momento is a simple, well-designed iPhone app that allows you to keep a diary on the go. We love the idea of using Momento to catalogue instances when the Resistance – the evil force that keeps us from making ideas happen – rears its ugly head.
Using the Pomodoro Technique. The Pomodoro Technique is like interval training for your attention span. Using the technique, you focus on One Single Task for 25 minutes. Then, you get a 5-minute break to stretch, indulge in Twitter, check your email, or whatever else.
Doing the hard, creative work first. Whether it’s waking up two hours earlier than normal and writing, or devoting the morning to the core research that will grow your business, we’re seeing an adjustment in priorities. People are trying to focus on meaningful work first, before they turn their attention to email, voicemail, social media, etc.

People are trying to focus on meaningful work first.

2. Disconnecting during creative/deep-thinking time.

Real creative problem-solving requires concerted focus. As they work to carve out blocks of time for deep thinking, people are also finding it necessary to unplug from the Internet. It’s all well and good to say you’re not going to check your email, but if you’re getting a notification every time a new message comes in, ignoring the chatter can be difficult. Some approaches to disconnecting:

Living in “airplane mode.” For the uninitiated, setting your phone to “airplane mode” disables phone calls, text messaging, wi-fi, Bluetooth, and GPS functionality.
Using an app to control Internet usage. The number of apps that will prevent you from accessing the Internet – or select sites of your choosing – is growing everyday. The two most popular apps are Freedom and Self-Control.
Turning off phones and computers outside of work. When they wake up in the morning, during lunch breaks, in the evening at home, etc. Everyone is experimenting with ways to “disconnect” and recharge when they’re away from their desks.

Everyone is experimenting with ways to ‘disconnect’ and recharge when they’re away from their desks.

3. Choosing between the digital and the analog…

Each time a new technology comes online, we’re inclined to think it’s the answer to all our problems. (“Now that we have this client intranet, we’ll never have to talk to them again!”) Currently, we’re settling into the realities and limitations of emailing on the go, sharing our every moment online, and so forth.As people begin to reassess the pros and cons of digital communication, they’re gaining a renewed appreciation for face-to-face conversations, phone calls, and personal interactions that don’t require emoticons to convey tone. Sometimes an email is more efficient, sometimes a phone call is more efficient. It depends on the situation. As our communication channels expand, we’ll have more decisions to make.

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Special thanks to the following sharing their thoughts:
@Jamesbedell, @roguepolymath, @piermadonia, @rafacappai, @talkanatalka, @mlwphotos, @global_yodel, @GeekySneaks, @brannonmc, @HTMigueL, @selenavidya, @maccodigital, @matiascorea, @thegreat2nd, @chrismackintosh, @saralalala, @chicob.

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What’s Your Productivity Approach?

What’s your take on multi-tasking?

Have you recently adapted your daily regime to improve your productivity?

More Posts by Jocelyn K. Glei

February 3, 2011

A writer and the founding editor of 99U, Jocelyn K. Glei is obsessed with how to make great creative work in the Age of Distraction. Her latest book is Unsubscribe: How to Kill Email Anxiety, Avoid Distraction, and Get Real Work Done. Her previous works include the 99U’s own bestselling book series: Manage Your Day-to-Day, Maximize Your Potential, and Make Your Mark. Follow her @jkglei.

Comments (45)

GraphicDesignBoss

Q: Have I recently adapted my daily regime to improve my productivity?

A: Over the years I’ve grown to recognise the times of the day when I know that will create my best design work (mornings or evenings). So I concentrate on my creative efforts in these time-frames.

I also recently blogged about this “3 Smart Steps That Will Improve Your Productivity & Increase Your Profitability” http://bit.ly/h9LhHz
Mike Kammerling

I think it’s important to separate productivity and creativity. The pomodoro technique is genuinely excellent for productivity but I find the short time frame exactly the kind of constraint that detracts from creativity. If we are going to experience any sort of flow, it’s good not to be reminded every 25 minutes that we should be being productive. Thanks for this article, I am downloading Self Control now..
mauren

Promodoro ‘there’s a app for that’.

http://focusboosterapp.com/
mauren

ah nvm, it’s already listed.
jkglei

I think that’s a great distinction, Mike. I believe there is productive creative time; you can’t force it, but you can create the right (non-distracting) environment for it. That said, I agree that larger time blocks, with more open-ended outcomes are best for big creative tasks, which this approach addresses really well: http://the99percent.com/tips/6… . Smaller, Pomodoro-style blocks are great for more manager/admin type tasks. I think the big picture point – whether you’re doing “manager” or “maker” tasks – is that you need to be focusing on one task in a meaningful way to really get something done.
Screamintuna

2011 – The transitional year from mutli-tasking to ‘focus-tasking’
Humestiger56

My bumper sticker for part of the problem of multitasking:

DRIVING — NOT BRAIN SURGERY
DISTRACTED DRIVING–BRAIN SURGERY PROBABLE!
David | Listen Feel Breathe

Yep I’ve noticed that multi tasking just doesn’t really cut it when it comes to being really productive with my time.

My steps:

1. Work out 3 things that I want to achieve today
2. Start doing the first thing
3. Finish it
4. Move to the next thing

I also use the pomodoro technique to make me work faster and to make sure I take breaks in between to maintain my productivity.
christopher copywriter

Great suggestions…
Good article..

ta.

http://christophercopywriter.c…
Frank

Have a look at http://monotasking.net/
Nikko

Any one here use Linux. These posts always leave me feeling left out. There seems to be a huge mac bias here.
Aaron

More about this “resistance”, please…
justinguruz

nice one
Josh

I do haha. Ubuntu 10.10 and Fedora 14 as a matter of fact.
LoneGunman

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe Einstein himself proclaimed, “A creative mind requires a quiet mind”. In these days, the only way to achieve a quiet mind is by literally disconnecting yourself from technology or prioritizing the responsibilities in your life and preventing unnecessary distractions from hampering your creative potential.
Waawog

disagree.. for most this might be true. not for me.

same way I could study hours in my room in college when there were tons of people downstairs making noise and im blasting music.. just some people can deal and some people cant. very simple if you ask me.
Alan8

I was overwhelmed with all the things I had to do, and would always forget a good number of them until it was too late.

Then I discovered a “do list”. I keep a text file that has all the things I have to do, grouped by area (business, household, band, misc. projects, etc.) It’s a single sheet that I keep in my back pocket.

When waiting for something during the day that would otherwise totally waste my time, I take out my do list and plan the next few hours, prioritizing the most important tasks. I add items as I think of them (e.g. what I suddenly realized I need to get at the store, or what to look up the next time I’m at a Web browser).

I cross off items as they get done, and when there’s a lot of markup, I update the text file and print out a new do list. It empowers me, and gives me back control over my life. When all the items are listed in front of me, they no longer seem overwhelming.

The blank side of the do list is useful during the day to jot down notes; I don’t have to look for scrap paper while out somewhere.

Tip: If an item remains on your do list for too long, it tells you there’s an intermediate goal you haven’t written down that you have to accomplish first.
Mark

Excellent thoughts on this topic (not mine, wish they had been):

http://www.stevestreeting.com/…
Tim Brownson

Not to mention that multi-tasking doesn’t exist in any meaningful sense of the phrase. Unless it’s working at an unconscious level, the human mind cannot focus on two task at once without seeing a MASSIVE drop off in cognitive function.

People who think they are multi-tasking are actually either going backwards and forwards rapidly, thus wasting a lot of time as their brain is forced to readjust each time. Or they are doing 2 things badly rather than one thing well.
Debabrata Acharjee

Well, I do not think we can get rid of muti tasking so easily. It has become our way of life . Do you use your mobile phone when you are watching TV? Do you use location based services when you are in a super cool mall for shopping. I believe it’s a fantasy now ‘to be alone , to wonder, to think’.
Guest

What the article is referring to is focusing on a single task at a time, not whether or not you’re easily disrupted by external noise or loud music.

If you can focus on your studies (and excel at them) while planning for a big project while tweeting, chatting on facebook, browsing youtube and texting on your phone, then all the better for you 🙂
Bismarkbartels

i cant agree with you more. multi tasking make u feel like u r a superhero when infact u r with ur mind but not with ur energy and resources. a concentrated effort yields more than spreading ur energy minds and thoughts across board.
Tara Rodden Robinson

Hi Jocelyn,

Great article! I totally agree. Multitasking is, by and large, a complete waste of effort.

One thing to consider when doing meaningful work first: the brain seems to prefer moving from sustained attention (working on one task or activity) to alternating attention (moving from one task or activity to another in succession). However, many people find it hard to go from alternating to sustained attention. I recommend that people start with tasks that require sustained attention first (the big project, the priority items) and then move to alternating attention (email and the like) to take advantage of this natural pattern in how the brain doles out attention.

Best wishes,
Tara
Tara Rodden Robinson

Hi Debabrata,

It’s not a fantasy to have time to be alone, to wonder, or to think. But it does require effort. One must make a conscious decision to have that kind of time. It’s always in reach, however.

Best wishes,
Tara
Jenniebakesalot

This might work unless you’re a woman. Women have been multi-talking since the dawn of time. And what about if your job is a Stay-At Home-mother? Should we really limit our emailing and calling to the times when we’re taking care of our kids?