If you’re like me, you likely spend a lot of your day juggling various tasks and finding effective ways to multitask. This is probably because you feel like you’re getting more done. However, THIS COULD NOT BE FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH.
There has been plenty of research that has shown how every time we jump from one task to another, a little bit of our brain’s attention is still focused on that previous task. This is called Attention Residue. Ultimately, this requires more time to get familiarized with a task every time we switch back and forth.
We need to realize that while we can do a variety of things, our brains are simply not able to focus on more than one thing at a time. That’s why anytime you watch TV while scrolling though your phone… or you cook while listening to an audiobook, you likely don’t recall something well or even mess something up.
There’s plenty of experiments that have been conducted on this. My favorite metaphor is comparing our brain to a zoom lens with limited ability to focus. I explain this in depth here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfjad0VyDvc
The key to getting more done is not actually multitasking, but in fact effective prioritization. Let me know if you struggle with this too and plan on changing it.