Why Multi-tasking Should Be Avoided

From checking emails at work to juggling kids homework and activities, today’s women are multi-tasking with aplomb. Yet the downside of this is the toll it can take on your overall wellness as well as productivity. Here are a few more reasons to stop the habit…

    • It takes longer to finish two tasks when going back and forth than when done separately according to a 2008 University of Utah study.
    • Switching between tasks leads to mistakes and may cause forty percent loss of productivity according to the American Psychological Association.
    • Higher stress comes with being on high alert in juggling so many tasks. The consequences of multitasking—such as the mistakes that come with, may be stress-causing.
    • It can cause overeating given that when one eats and engages in another task, it leads to not listening to the cues that one’s tummy is full.
    • It dampens creativity. The spontaneity and daydreaming essential to the creative function is overridden by deliberate, focused task switching that keeps the person on a more doing level rather than a receptive, open level.

How to Stop Multi-Tasking Now

We are more productive when doing a task in batches like emails all at once or paying bills.

The inspiration that comes with fully immersing in a task brings joy and satisfaction and is worth it.

Leave the mobile phone on silence when in a conversation with another.