If you’re managing multiple projects or businesses, the ability to multitask can be vital to making sure everything gets done on time and with maximum efficiency.
Unfortunately, multitasking has gotten something of a bad rap in recent years, as studies have shown that it actually makes people less productive overall, because they’re spreading their attention too thin. But there’s a difference between multitasking mindlessly or mindfully. In other words, there are ways to improve your multitasking skills without getting overwhelmed in the process.
Studies have shown that multitasking can negatively impact your efficiency and productivity. One expert even estimates that task switching can eat into as much as 40 percent of working time. Those lost minutes can add up to several hours of work time lost.
But productivity isn’t the only thing at risk with multitasking. Moving between tasks means more mistakes. If you're constantly split between tasks, you're more likely to make an error that could affect the project and even your business.
More alarmingly, all of this switching around takes a toll on a person's IQ. A study found that a person's IQ drops the same amount in a day that it would during a night of poor sleep. Eventually, you reach a point where you can't retain information anymore.
It’s actually impossible to multitask, according to researchers at Stanford University. The reason you feel like you can do more than one thing is because your brain is not actually doing all of those things simultaneously—instead, it switches rapidly between tasks and periods of idleness while you remain focused on one particular task. This switching between multiple tasks in a given hour wears out your brain faster than when working on one thing at a time. This causes delays in response, performance slow down, and more errors in work.
So what's one to do to reduce multitasking fatigue?
What you need is a digital workspace that gives you a better overview of:
Having a better overview makes it easier on your brain, and allows you to make smarter choices on what item to act on when.
Along the same lines as the section above, a global search function provides additional overview and allows you to find what you need with less context switching. With one click you can search through all of your apps, links, conversations, meetings and integrations. Limiting context switching and time spent locating things you need means less energy and focus taken away from the other task(s) you have at hand.
To get more done in less time, you have to figure out a way to properly focus on one task at a time. Start by creating a list of objectives and then work on them one at a time. This way, you’ll be able to tackle all your work without getting distracted.
Taking breaks during work is important. Humans aren’t designed to sit in one place for eight hours straight, working in an intense way for that entire time period. Work breaks allow you to rejuvenate and make sure you maintain your quality of work.Aim to take at least three breaks each day—try not to cut them short or save them up. (If possible, take at least one longer lunch break away from your computer.) Don’t make yourself so exhausted at the end of each day that you can barely unwind before bedtime.
Using Desktop.com makes it easier to work on multiple projects or businesses. By organizing tools, information and conversations into separate spaces that you can easily maintain overview of and manage from anywhere, you’ll automatically stay on top of things and direct your focus more mindfully. Global search and connected workspaces are just some of the functionality that allows you to multitask smarter.
With Desktop.com, you can finally take out the excess switching between apps and use that time to accomplish more!
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