Time Management Tip: Reduce Multitasking
Posted by Jan Wencel on Wed, Mar 03, 2010
I'm guessing by now you've heard at least one thumbs-down message about multitasking. It slows you down. It increases your error rate. It makes you stupid. It causes you to drive like your blood alcohol level is .08 when you're stone-cold sober.
So then why is it that:
• The phrase blackberry jam was recently coined to describe the sidewalk congestion caused by people walking while tapping on their phones?
• 3,300 iPhone users and counting have rated "Email 'n Walk," an application that overlays your email window with a view from your camera so you can watch where you're going when you type?
• The New York Times is publishing the "Driven to Distraction" series to enumerate on the dangers of double dipping during commutes?
• I feel compelled to put links throughout this newsletter, promoting you to multitask!?!
This excerpt from yesterday's NYT article helps to answer:
"Scrambling to protect his company...he grabbed his cell phone...cradling it between his left ear and shoulder, and with his right hand e-mailed instructions...from his laptop...all while driving his rental car in a construction zone on a two-lane highway. 'I thought I was doing a great job because I was being productive...It's an adrenaline rush. It's the buzz we all get of trying to do everything you can in business.'"
We would all be less stressed (& safer!) if we spent fewer moments multitasking, but don't take my word for it. Play this three-minute game to see for yourself.
Links to: blackberry jam, email 'n walk, driven to distraction, office work is high risk