Why do You Suck at Multitasking?
Have You Considered Rotating Through Tasks?
Goal: Differentiate between multitasking and rotating through things
Our minds like working on one thing at a time. This single-task at a time has been human reality since we arrived on this planet. You had to focus on that saber tooth tiger or you were done.
Multi-tasking is a recent phenomenon. We are attempting to work on 2–3 things at a time. SInce there are no saber tooth tigers around, most of the time you don’t get killed.
BUT are you effective? Are you fooling yourself?
Unless you are chewing gum and walking, most of the time you are switching between tasks. You brain short term memory is working on something, has to put that data aside, and start the next item. Evengtually you switch back to the first task. This switching back and forth can reduce your productivity by as much as 40%.
Again, don’t fool yourself. You can most easily fool yourself.
Lately I made an interesting observation about how I work. I used to try the multi-tasking but something always got dropped. In my line of work, project management, I am often managing multiple projects, multiple teams, and multiple deadlines.
So how does one become very efficient at managing these multi-things?
Lately have been creating a lot of apps. If you were to look at one of my windows you would notice 12 apps that I am working on. Notice I did not say at the same time.
It is my goal to develop functioning apps that can be sold. As I come up with an idea I open a new app environment tab. So there are 12 tabs.
You might be thinking, why is he working on 12 apps. Why don’t he just focus on one app and just finish it quickly?
The idea of finishing software is not like building a house. You can always add more things to an app. You can always make it better. Sometimes making it better means destroying existing or modifying. The equivalent would be to destroy a room in your house and rebuild it.
Not the same?
My point is that I open an app work on it by adding or deleting. This is something that can be done quickly. All I am trying to do is nudge the app a little closer to done. The apps all work and can be demonstrated to a customer BUT not ready for prime time.
This rotating through the tasks idea seems to work very well for me. I am energized and refreshed every time I open a new app. I start with beginner’s mind and look for areas where I can improve. There is a plan of a few tasks that I created ahead of time for me to do BUT I also look for new ideas to add based on the work I did on another app.
I have applied this type of rotation to managing projects before. Many years ago I was asked to manage 40+ projects at the same time. The only way I could survive was to keep rotating through these projects and keep nudging them forward. Nothing got dropped.
Personally, I like this strategy because it does not drain me with having to allocate all of my energy to one thing while the rest of my tasks suffer. Hopefully this article gave you a different way to look at your task completion strategy.
My seven cents….(this is what I earned from Medium.com for Nov. 2020)
I got to go…my future self alarm went off
Robert Trajkovski is professional with experience in leading people and projects in Steel/ Power, Refining, Chemicals, Industrial Gasses, Software, Consulting and Academia. He has worked for both owners and engineering companies. In addition, he has instructed 73+ courses at several institutions and often offers his courses for free on LinkedIn.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/roberttrajkovski/
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