Multitasking. It kills productivity faster than a strict diet of decaf coffee and potato chips.
So, before you read this post, decide you’re not going to respond to a text, answer a call, or do anything else before you’re done reading and watching this post. Seriously (you will survive).
OK? Good. Here we go.
Every activity has a start, a middle and a wrap-up.
So why are some people busy as hell with little to nothing for it to show at the end of a day, while others are steadfastly diligent (and less frantic) and have much more done in that same time period?
Multitasking: The Recipe for Underachievers
Multitasking is the topic of this week’s One Minute Wednesday (last week I talked about the 2 ways people use their mobile devices: one leads to growth and one leads to contraction):
Whether we’re talking about a meal, a shower, a product launch, managing a brand, exercise, writing, drawing, creating, producing, or organizing any activity.
If you only chipped away at the “start” portion of all the items on your to-do list, several things would happen:
- You’d be very busy
- The number of things you’d get done would be very few
One study at the University of London found that when participants multitasked during cognitive tasks, they experienced IQ score declines similar to what they’d expect if someone had smoked marijuana or stayed up all night.
So it takes discipline and focus.
It’s like driving five cars with one driver.
You have to keep jumping from one car to the other just to rev the engine a bit, shift gears and move each up the road a bit.
How much energy would it take you to get those 5 cars a mile down the road? A long time, even though you’d be very busy.
And your morale would be nonexistent.
Businesses, brands, and entrepreneurs deal with this multitasking epidemic all the time.
Fact is no brand can afford to operate like this.
Your brand will suffer. Customers will be miserable. Morale will be in the dumps.
If a business only dealt with “getting out proposals” and never closing any deals, you’d have no business.
If you only had “great ideas” and never executed, you’d be defeated.
If you only worked on launching a product and never delivering excellent products and service, you wouldn’t have a brand.
Plans by themselves suck. Execution and focus make all the difference.
You’ve got to get the beginning done before you get to the middle. And you have to wrap up the middle before you get to the end.
Multitasking as an idea should have never survived the “start phase” and should be given a quick burial.
The lesson: Stop. Focus. Achieve.
Do this for a week and let me know the difference this made.
