Save Time By Reducing Multitasking 
 
OK, so we can run on a treadmill, while reading our email . . . and talk on the phone at the same time. And if we see someone—at the edge of our peripheral vision—about to do something dangerous, we can take action. Somehow women evolved with a heightened ability to juggle attention. Personally, I think it was the pressing need on the Pleistocene plain to gather food and children at the same time.
 
As Martha Stewart might ask, “Is this a Good Thing?”  My answer is, “Not always.”  The American Psychological Association reports that new studies reveal the hidden costs of multitasking. There is a time loss when switching from one task to another, and the amount of time increases with the complexity of the task. If one of those tasks is fairly new, your time loss is much greater when you’re multitasking.
 
Not to be too nerdy here, your Brain CEO has executive control processes that come into play for each task. It has to allocate resources, such as brain cells, and setup priorities. For each aspect of your performance—perceiving, thinking, and acting—you have mental software that must come into supervised play. Wonder why you’re tired at night? Well, now you can tell others the techie reason that you’re exhausted.
 
Here’s where the curse part comes in. If you interrupt a man who is doing a task, oh, let’s say reading a budget report, adjusting a gasket, or operating the remote control, he’s going to look up very briefly with a pained expression and say, “Can’t you see I’m busy?”  Women, that’s what we should do more often. Instead, you know what we do:  We try to juggle one more thing, because of that Pleistocene history.
 
In the workplace, this often pulls us down. We end up splitting our attention between many tasks. We end up being the ones the boss imposes on with Just One More Thing. And we take it with the silent promise, “Just This One Time.” The scientific study shows we’re losing time—although maybe not as much time as a man would lose when multitasking—because refocusing is harder and he has to talk about how hard that is. Sorry guys, you know that’s true.
 
In the workplace, we’re being pulled down with some time loss and pulled down with the piling on of extra tasks. But the most important thing is we’re not being pushed up with focused attention on one big task that merits us high visibility. Who has time for that? The answer is:  A man with a closed door.
 
Now, here’s my Tip of the Week.
 
Tip:
 
Copy the boys on this one! You need to limit your multitasking. Trust me when I say you should designate specific times of the day when you’ll check your email, when you’ll answer your phone messages, and when you’ll check into others’ offices to catch up (also called Office Politics because it’s that important).
 
And what should you do when your boss gives you Just One More Thing? First, copy the boys on this one too: Flip-out and say, “Are you crazy?”  Is that too strong for you? OK, then say, “Oh no, I don’t have any time, should I put the IBM project (whatever is your boss’ favorite) down a notch?” Honest, if you start doing this, your boss will stop thinking that you’re one of those pushovers. And if you want to attain an executive image, you want to rid yourself of any pushover baggage.
 
Now get out there and make things easier for yourself! Limit your multitasking.
 
 
Further Reading:

Podcast (always less than 10 minutes), Working in Heels, by Nancy Clark, How You Can Handle Office Politics, Without Golf  —Women, Don’t Be Left Out Of Office Politics or read it here.
 
Blog, Women’s Lunch Talk, by Nancy Clark, What To Do When You’re Stereotyped —How To Cancel A Limiting Stereotype, Such As “Pushover”
 
Website, WomensMedia, by Dianne Schilling, Concentration: Getting Into Flow —Emotional Intelligence at Its Best
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