As a leader, when you have someone tell you that they are an excellent multitasker, what is the first thing that comes to your mind? Do you think this is a positive or a negative trait for a team member?
For me, when I hear someone say that they are a great multitasker I tend to cringe as no one is truly at multitasking. I know you are thinking that there are a lot of instances that someone could be good at multitasking, but take even the simplest of tasks, walking and talking. You can walk and talk with no issues, but if the conversation becomes something important you are more likely to stop and need to focus specifically on that conversation. This leads me to the second point.
If you are multitasking, how are you putting 100% effort into either of the topics that you might be working on. One of them is going to get more attention than the other one. Is this a good thing or will something potentially be missed?
According to the book “The One Thing” by Gary Keller, the author talks about how if you try to do two things at once, you either can’t or won’t do either well. Steve Uzell states that “multitasking is meetly the opportunity to screw up more than one thing at a time”.
The term multitasking never existed in the business world prior to the 1960’s. It wasn’t until the first supercomputer came out and claimed that it could “multitask” and perform several functions at one time. Yes, super computers can multitask, humans, not so much. When a person takes on two things at once, their attention gets divided. When that person takes on three things at once, something gets dropped.
How many times have you heard someone in the office say that they are multitasking, they get interrupted, and they cannot remember where they left off or what they were doing? That individual was not focused on one task or provided 100% focus on one thing at a time. Why do we expect our team members to have the ability to multitask when they are at work. Do you want your heart surgeon or the pilot to try to land the plane that you are on to multitask when they are working? Why do we potentially expect more from our team members than we do from highly trained professionals?
Researchers state that 28% of the average workday is lost due to ineffective team members trying to multitask. A third of their day is wasted or lost due to trying to multitask. Putting that into a bigger perspective, that over a day and a half a week that is wasted per week. That’s 75 days a year or almost three months wasted a year by a team member trying to do more things than they should.
“It’s not that we have to little time to do all the things we need to do, its that we feel the need to do to many things in the time we have (Keller, 2012). Multitasking can lead to making poor decisions and choices, painful mistakes and unnecessary stress at home or in the office. Additionally, doing several things at once can impair cognitive ability in the human brain.
According to Kendra Cherry, Author of How Multitasking Affects Productivity and Brain Health, multitasking takes a serious toll on productivity. Our brains lack the ability to perform multiple tasks at the same time—in moments where we think we’re multitasking, we’re likely just switching quickly from task to task. Focusing on a single task is a much more effective approach for several reasons (Cherry, 2025). Cherry continues to discuss in her article how multitasking is distracting as the person who is multitasking distracts themselves with the secondary task and loses focus from the original task.
From a counselling perspective, this is where a lot of our clients come in reporting anxiety or being overwhelmed with work and home. They are trying to balance and multitask so many different tasks where they need to stop and prioritize what is important to them at that moment and then focus on that one thing. The brain will perform better, the task will more than likely be completed quicker and with more effort. In the end. The quality of tasks will be better, and the anxiety will be less.
Making small changes can potentially increase your productivity and efficiency. What are some things that we can do to break this multitasking habit? What have you tried that has worked or has not worked? The next time you are feeling overwhelmed and think that you need to multitask, try to:
Limit the number of things that you need to juggle and prioritize what is most important. If you need to multitask, have the secondary task be something that is automatic for you like folding laundry or having a conversation that is not a high priority where you need to focus.
Instead of switching between tasks, try to focus on one task for 20 minutes and then switch to the other.
Limit your distractions. Switch your phone off. Shut your office door. Turn off your email notifications and allow yourself time to focus on the task at hand.
So, the next time that you think you need to multitask, remember, multitasking can reduce your ability to focus, and it could increase feelings of stress, and intensify impulsiveness. It can also potentially worsen your performance at work or school, which will then potentially lead to further negative feelings and anxiety. Don’t allow the cycle to continue, stay focused and increase your brain power and productivity.
References
Cherry, K. (2025, February 4). How Multitasking Affects Productivity and Brain Health. Very Well Mind. https://www.verywellmind.com/multitasking-2795003
Keller, G. (2012). The One Thing. Relleck Publishing. https://the1thing.com/book/
