Multitasking is one big lie

Multitasking, everyone always acted like it was some kind of superpower for women. A somewhat successful woman would call a colleague, feed the dog at the same time, while keeping one eye on her step counter and coming up with a solution for world peace. That kind of work. If you weren't a multitasker, then you were only medium successful in life. At least that's how it felt in the nineties, we carried that belief into the new millennium and now it turns out to be one big lie.

I have recently become a bit obsessed with working as productively as possible. How do I get as much done in as little time as possible and preferably at the peak of my abilities? The answer is simple: stop multitasking. Almost every book I open says it's bad for you. Tim Ferris, author of The 4-Hour Workweek, even preaches that you should do as little as possible at the same time to work efficiently. Thijs Lindhout, author of How the hell do I find happiness?, goes a step further and says that intelligent multitasking doesn't exist. Everyone would actually be switchtasking, which indeed means what you think it means. Constantly switching between various tasks. Surprise surprise: you get less done that way. It seems impossible to perform two intelligent tasks simultaneously. Multitasking as we thought it was done does not exist.

I read Thijs Lindhout's book this weekend in one day. That was a strong example of monotasking on my part, if I have to believe Thijs. He interviewed Mark Tigchelaar, who is an expert in focus and productivity, and what turns out? Switchtasking is the biggest cause of burnout. Take a moment to process this and really just this. The skill that everyone seems to find an asset is the biggest cause of working yourself completely into the ground. Great then. By switchtasking, you take in so many stimuli and eventually, you become overstimulated.

We can certainly do things at the same time, but then one thing must be so completely non-challenging that you can do it without thinking about it. Good to consider when you're on the phone with someone who is clearly doing something else that requires some intelligence, then you are probably the brain-dead task being performed.