How to stop multi-tasking (mostly)

Doing too much at once? Here’s how to focus and become more engaged.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Good morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Today's tip is to stop multitasking, well mostly. One of
the most common questions I get asked that talks is
what I think about multitasking. My answer is that it depends.
Most of us understand multitasking is doing two or more

(00:23):
things at once. By that definition, it's both innocuous and inevitable.
My guess is that you're doing something else while listening
to this podcast, driving, making your coffee, getting dressed, exercising,
waiting for the bus, and that's fine. You're also multitasking
if you exercise with a friend, make dinner with your spouse,

(00:44):
talk with your kids while driving. All of these are
great ways to spend time, no complaints from me. There
where we get in trouble with multitasking is when we're
doing two things that require the same kind of attention
at the same time. You know what I mean, checking
your texts while someone is trying to talk with you,
answering emails while you're on a conference call, writing a report,

(01:06):
while monitoring Slack or instant messages. Look, I know it's tempting.
We all have so much to do. Avoiding email entirely
during an hour long conference call can seem like a
huge waste of time, And yet we're never really doing
two things like answering email and listening to a call
at once. We're taggling our attention back and forth between

(01:26):
the two. We're losing time on every switch, so it's inefficient,
and the danger is that we're not paying attention to
the right thing at the right time. I know this
has happened to me. I will admit that sometimes if
I'm on a call and it's running along, I will
look at my inbox. Inevitably I miss the question. Then

(01:47):
the person is saying, and what do you think about that, Laura,
and I either have to embarrass myself by asking the
person to repeat the question, or I flubbed through an
answer that has nothing to do with the matter at hand.
For stuff like the US, it's really hard to rely
on willpower. I mean, your inboxes right there. Instead, I
think the best answer is to be very careful about

(02:08):
scheduling yourself into stuff that will make multitasking tempting. In
other words, if you know you're going to be able
to check email while you're on a call, ask if
you really need to be on that call. Maybe the
agenda is too vague, maybe there are too many people.
Maybe you can send around a quick email instead. You
might also change the format. I know I'm doing a

(02:30):
lot more video conferences these days because everyone pays more
attention when they can see each other's faces, and if
you think about it, in our distracted world, attention really
is the ultimate sign of respect. So challenge yourself today
to pay full attention to whatever you've chosen to do.

(02:50):
See if you can convert some calls to video chats,
or to keep your phone in a desk during a meeting.
I promise you'll feel more engaged, which actually makes work
feel more pleasant. In the meantime. This is Laura. Thanks
for listening, and here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,

(03:16):
I'd love to hear from you. You can send me
your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with
me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod
that's B the number four, then Breakfast p O D.
You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast
podcast at iHeart media dot com That Before Breakfast is

(03:39):
spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much. Should
I look forward to staying in touch