An Interesting Game for Master Multitaskers

The question of whether or not someone can, or cannot, multitask and how it influences their productivity comes up quite often these days. People on both sides of this issue often get irritated when those who oppose their viewpoint shift from the persuasive mode of communicating to the condescending or nagging mode. Why don't we call a truce and declare this a no-fault issue. In other words, let's concede the fact that you are neither a good nor bad person if you support or oppose multitasking. So, what will we do with all the time we formerly used to argue about the issue of multitasking versus productivity? I've got an idea...let's play a game with the extra time. 

All you need to play the game is a piece of paper, a pen or pencil and some sort of timer or someone to time you. 

Write the following statement on the top of your piece of paper: MULTITASKING VS PRODUCTIVITY. But wait...don't start yet!

I want you to time yourself (or have someone time you) and alternate between writing letters of the statement above and numbering the individual letters of the statement. In other words, switch between the task of writing the letters and the task of numbering the letters. For example, write the letter "M" and directly below it write the number "1" and then write the letter "U" and below it write the letter "2" and so forth and so on until you have completed the entire statement. You should end up with 26 letters on top and 26 numbers below. Here's an example of how to get started:

M U L T ... 

1 2 3 4 ...   

Now do the same exercise (once again, time yourself or have someone time you) and write the statement MULTITASKING VS PRODUCTIVITY. But wait! This time, your first task is to write all the letters of the statement without stopping and then switch tasks and write all the numbers (1 to 26) without stopping.

Compare the two times for completing the game.  

When I did this, it took me 54 seconds the first time and 31 seconds the second time. Therefore my performance, or shall we say productivity, improved by 43 percent when I focused on one task at a time (a 23 second improvement, divided by my original time of 54 seconds). Well damn! That's interesting! 

Considering vacations, holidays and other time off, there are about 2,000 hours in a typical work year. Therefore, using my results as an example, if someone made a commitment to cut back on what is generally perceived as multitasking and reduced their habit of switching back and forth on tasks by just 10 percent, they would free up 86 hours of productive time each year. That's a two work-week plus six hour productivity gain for a 10 percent reduction in multitasking, or whatever you prefer to call the habit of rapidly switching your attention back and forth. (OK, I'll come clean...I have an agenda. I am one of those pesky people who believe there is no such thing as multitasking when you are referring to the higher order brain functions).

Now, if you feel so inclined, try the exercise again...only this time write a letter of the statement MULTITASKING VS PRODUCTIVITY, switch below and number the letter and then switch below and assign the letters of the alphabet in sequence to the number. For example:

M U L T ...

1 2 3 4 ...

A B C D... 

I think you can guess the results of switching back and forth among three tasks. By the way, these are relatively simple tasks...they all involve writing That is, writing simple things on a piece of paper. Things get worse as the tasks get more challenging and diverse.

President Obama recently suggested that it was time to put some of our childish things away if we want to solve our economic problems. Maybe we should also put some of our childlike games away if we want to solve our productivity problems. When we were children, it was fun to try and pat our head and rub our belly at the same time. But it is not so much fun to play the adult-equivalent of this game - multitasking. Maybe if we cut back on this productivity-killing habit we would have a lot more time for fun! 

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Chris Crouch, president of DME Training and Consulting, has spent years researching and studying both the mental and physical aspects of being productive. His new book, Being Productive: Learning to Get More Done With Less Effort, is now available through Amazon.

Comments

[Bethanne Kronick]

This is AWESOME!!!!! You provide such a simple, clear example—I LOVE it! And a phenomenal close! What a terrific exercise. I have a GO workshop next week and I think I’ll add this to the multitasking module. GREAT, GREAT, GREAT! May this be the impetus more "uni-taskers" in the world!

[Vickie]

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