Why I prefer single-tasking over multi-tasking

There has been a lot of hype about multi-tasking in the recent years, but I prefer to stick to the age-old habit of single-tasking.  Multi-tasking may be beneficial in a couple of instances (I have even tried it to see what’s so special about it, but it didn’t appeal me), but it is single-tasking which will give you utmost satisfaction. The other day I was astonished by the fact that it was I who was glued to my computer without even knowing that my mother had kept the tea on my table. I was so much immersed in my work that I didn’t hear her calling me. I have even seen certain people giving their full attention to a single task.

Single-tasking over multi-tasking

It all depends on your concentration and the fixation of your mind to a particular task. Sometimes multi-tasking can be done if you can manage it. But if the multi-tasking affects your concentration, you should consider moving to single-tasking. We tend to ignore certain aspects including reading books while eating food, listening to music while doing your work and think that they won’t cause any problem. However, while for the first instance it involves getting the food digested properly, for the second instance it involves lot of distraction, more so when you are doing some crucial and important work.

Multi-tasking is only a recent practice, and people do it thinking that it will give them quicker results. However, according to me, multitasking is a myth. Though I am not an expert in explaining how the brain handles multi-tasking, through experience, I can say that when two thinking activities are performed at the same time, it hinders our productivity. I feel there should be undivided attention to a specific task, and once we switch our attention to another it becomes a question of concern. For example, we are nowadays addicted to our mobile phones; even when we are crossing the road, which requires lot of attention, we tend to be distracted by the mobile phone ringing. We take the phone and at the same time cross the road. This sort of multi-tasking can be really dangerous.

But now we all have this doubt in mind. Is listening to a lecture, at the same time taking notes, multitasking or single-tasking? Well, listening to a lecture needs taking notes and if the process can be done simultaneously without affecting the listening part, it is not multi-tasking. It is the same process wherein one takes notes for the purpose of grasping the points and having a record of it.

Take-home message

The main purpose of doing a task is to achieve something. When I am preparing an important report while listening to music, I tend to make mistakes in the report, thereby not accomplishing my purpose. What more is important in our daily activities than finding a purpose out of it? If we think like this, we only always do single-tasking and do multi-tasking only if the situation demands (like the listening to lecture and taking notes example). If your child is crying and at the same time you want to attend to cooking in the kitchen, let your child be taken care of by you and the cooking part can be delegated to someone else. It all depends on how we handle our tasks effectively and also not being preoccupied with getting more tasks done.

2 Thoughts to “Why I prefer single-tasking over multi-tasking”

  1. Akshaya

    Nyc blog👍

  2. Akshaya

    Nice blog 👍

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