If you’re the kind of person who finds it difficult to concentrate on more than one thing at a time, then multitasking may not be for you. It can be hard to do and is a rare quality for people to have.
There is a lot of pressure these days to multitask – and a lot of good reasons to do it. But there are also good reasons not to, especially if you are not naturally inclined to keep multiple balls in the air.
Here are the 9 reasons why you shouldn’t multitask
1. Multitasking makes you less productive
Multitasking can make you distracted, concentrate less and ultimately less productive. Having your mind on multiple things at once doesn’t work if you are failing to complete them all successfully.
This can undermine your productiveness and suggest that you can’t handle your workload.
2. Multitasking makes you less effective
Having your mind on multiple things reduce the effectiveness of your work because, by jumping from one thing to another, you don’t give yourself enough time with each task so it can be as well done as possible.
And if a project isn’t the best it can be, your boss may think you’re not working hard enough. That’s never a good thing.
3. Multitasking can slow down your brain
Multitasking can slow down your brain because you will be constantly worrying about everything else you have to get done. This can ’freeze’ your brain and make you unmotivated to work — and I don’t think I need to tell you why not working at work is bad.
4. You make more mistakes
If you have several things to do and you’re trying to get through them all quickly, it may cause you to make a mistake or overlook something important. This can have a major fallout if it happens often, both for your business and ultimately for you – whether it’s loss of client confidence in your brand or of your boss’s confidence in you.
5. You take longer to do things
Constantly switching from one thing to another can make you take longer to complete tasks because it can distract you from each individual topic and completing them.
Doing them one by one is a better, and sometimes faster, way to work because you won’t have to worry about running out of time to complete them at the end of the day and having to postpone them to your ‘to do’ list for the following day.
6. You increase your own stress
Multitasking can increase your stress, especially if you have a heavy workload have to complete by a certain time. And while a big workload may seem daunting, it certainly is achievable — if you don’t multitask.
To decrease your stress, it’s best to tackle each task head on and one at a time so that each of them gets completed — and not in the way of others. It may also help if you look at what you have to do and sort which ones you think are the ‘easiest’ to complete and which may be more ‘difficult’.
7. You’re not really multitasking
The reason you’re not really multitasking is because you’re actually having trouble deciding what you should be working on. And this constant jumping from one task to another could mean that none of your tasks are done well and to the standard expected — causing you even more stress.
8. It slows you down
Multitasking slows you down because, by jumping from one task to another, you delay progress on each task, their ultimate final product and possibly your own career.
And the reason multitasking slows you down is because, while you may be in ‘working mindset’ each task will still require a particular mindset that can change with each task. Constant jumping from one thing to another won’t save you time or make you concentrate harder on each task.
9. Multitasking shortens your attention span
Multitasking can promote a shorter attention span as you jump from one thing to another. Growing your attention span will help you to concentrate on one task for longer instead of getting restless and wanting to change to another.
