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Is Multi-Tasking a Good Idea?

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Have you ever answered your email at the same time you were on the phone talking with a customer? Has an employee walked in your office trying to alert you to a crisis, and you give an answer, barely looking away from your spreadsheet? Have you ever run a red light while yelling at your teenager, who is in the passenger seat?

If the answer is yes to any of the questions above, then you are a victim of multi-tasking.

Can multi-tasking, long promoted as a way to get more things done faster and better, cause more problems than it's worth?

Here are some surprising answers from scientists about what's really going on in our brains during multi-tasking and whether it's a smart thing to do or not.

Divided Attention

When you perform two or more tasks at once, you divide the resources you have in your brain among the tasks, which compromises the quality of your work. Let's say you are answering email and a client calls. You pick up the phone, but continue reading your email. Your brain must now juggle three things: the conversation with the client, the email, and the job of switching attention between the two tasks.

Assuming your brain's resources are divided equally among the three tasks, 33 percent of your attention is focused on your client, another 33 percent is focused on answering your email, and the final 33 percent goes to the overhead it takes to manage the two tasks. To drive the point home, you cut your productivity by a third, from 100 percent to 33 percent, on any one task when you multi-task between just two tasks.

You productivity is cut even further when more than two tasks are performed at any one time. If quality is a critical issue, the answer is to stop multi-tasking and get each task done, one at a time.

The Cost of Interruptions

You might be asking yourself how you will get everything done if you don't multi-task.

Don't confuse multi-tasking with task interruptions. Most of our time challenges come from the many interruptions we experience during the workday. Interruptions cause us to switch attention from one task to another.

The cost of switching attention adds up as we have to set aside the demands of the current task and gear up for the demands of the new task each time we are interrupted. This shut-down and startup time during task switching is the real reason that tasks take longer than they should.

Our ability to pay attention for long periods of time suffers when we are constantly interrupted. If possible, shut your office door, refrain from answering the phone, and don't check email when you are working on a task, especially a difficult one.

Return calls and emails, and visit coworkers when you have completed the task or need a break. Your day will go smoother, and your brain's capability for attention will grow stronger with fewer interruptions.

When Multi-Tasking Is a Good Idea

Multi-tasking is still a good idea in some situations, say when we know the task extremely well, and quality and accuracy are not at risk. For example, talking on the phone casually with a friend and cooking dinner are two tasks that can easily be done at the same time.

One Step at a Time

Try taking one step at a time for a week and see what happens: Avoid multi-tasking, eliminate as many interruptions as possible, and complete each task before starting another. See if you get more done this week than before.

If so, you have found some new answers to managing your time that will work effectively at the office as well as at home. Plus, you will be strengthening your brain's capability to focus and pay attention.

Last Updated: 05/27/2008