Multitasking is a Myth

Good things should be shared.

I recently signed up for a MOOC on time management on Coursera. The reason behind it was obvious. Although it was a 4 week course (which honestly, could have been completed in 1 day), it took me 3 months to complete it!

Anyway, the long short is that most of the tips were common sense and if I'd been more critical of how I used my time, I would have been more productive. However, there was a video link in the additional reference which I found interesting and beneficial. It was a lecture by Mike Sanders on Multitasking - how our brain works and why multitasking isn't productive at the end of the day.


Basically, our brain only works on one problem at a time and having another problem lingering behind the current problem we're focusing on just screws up our brain's productivity. So the key was to focus on Problem 1, write notes on where you stopped and de-engage to create a demarcation, before moving on to Problem 2 and so on and so forth. This frees up the mind to focus on the new problem. The notes serves to minimise the lag time when you go back to the problem to continue working on it. I've screenshot the process as a reminder to myself on how I should manage my thought processes in future.

Screenshot of Mike Sanders' tip for multitasking

There are 5 parts to the lecture where each video is less than 10 minutes long, i.e. one session broken up into 5 videos. I've linked Part 1 below, but you should really watch all 5 parts. And besides, if you want to know the ending of the story Mike Sanders tells in Part 1, you'd have to watch till the end of Part 5 to hear it!