While we might think multitasking is a productivity booster, it can actually have negative impacts on your efficiency and effectiveness in the workplace. Most of us, in fact, are not accomplishing more by juggling multiple tasks simultaneously, and research suggests that multitasking can lead to decreased productivity, increased errors, and heightened stress.

Why Multitasking is a Negative

Because the human brain is not designed to focus on multiple tasks at once, switching between tasks incurs a "switching cost" to your brain as it transitions from one activity to another. This “switching cost” can lead to a loss of focus and efficiency, as your brain takes time to shift gears for the new task.  As a result, each task receives less attention and cognitive resources, leading to decreased performance and quality of work.

Multitasking can also impair concentration and retention because with multiple tasks to take care of, there comes with it a division of attention--thus decreasing focus and time to fully absorb.   This can hinder your comprehension, problem-solving skills, and overall learning capacity.

Additionally, multitasking can contribute to heightened stress and consequently, feeling overwhelmed.  Switching between tasks can create a sense of mental clutter and chaos, making it difficult to maintain focus and stay organized. This chronic stress can have negative effects on well-being, leading to burnout and decreased job satisfaction.

Options to Multitasking

Instead of multitasking, a more effective approach to productivity is single-tasking or focusing on one task at a time. By dedicating your full attention and energy to one task, one attains a greater depth of focus, concentration, and quality of work. Single-tasking means fully immersing yourself in the task at hand, leading to better comprehension, problem-solving, and creativity.

To enhance your productivity even more, strategies such as time-blocking, prioritization, and goal-setting can help with focus.  Breaking tasks into smaller, manageable chunks, and allocating specific blocks of time to work on each task make goals more easily attainable, which also leads to a sense of accomplishment. Prioritize tasks based on urgency and importance, and set realistic goals to guide your workflow.

Efficiency for Single-Tasking Your Job Hunt

When it is time to move onto a new career opportunity, download the F1Hire extension to make the job hunt more efficient while you search simultaneously across all five major job sites (e.g., Handshake, Indeed).  Thus, rather than multitask and search across five job sites, the F1Hire extension will single task your job search across all five site.  Furthermore, with F1Hire’s ‘skill match’ feature, you can also easily fine tune your resume for each job.

TDLR: By adopting approaches that allow you to focus on single-tasking, you can optimize your productivity and effectiveness while minimizing the negative impacts of multitasking on your work performance and well-being.