We've been inundated with literature and media telling us that multi-tasking is the only way to get ahead in our busy world.  Help Wanted ads almost always say, "Multi-task oriented individual required".  But I submit that the entire concept that multi-tasking = more efficient or more productive is FALSE.  Here's why:

When we begin working, it takes a few seconds or minutes (depending on the person) to get into the "flow".  You know what I'm talking about...shuffling papers, getting things in order, putting pen to paper, writing a few sentences, then blam...your brain starts working.  Of course, the specifics vary depending on what you do. 

When we are interrupted by a phone or person, etc., we have to shift our thinking into a NEW mode, get into a NEW flow, and begin doing THAT work.  When finished, we have to get back into the flow of what we were doing before, which starts the process all over again.

Because of the way our "flow" works, more mistakes are made when we attempt to multi-task simply because we don't have the time to get our flow mojo back.  So we move back and forth, forgetting to dot an "i" here and entering the wrong date there...and presenting lesser quality work than we would've presented had we finished one thing before starting on another. 


To counteract this, try to do one thing at a time, with your complete focus.  Finish it and put it away before doing something else.  If the work you're doing can't be finished, find a convenient stopping point, paper clip the work together (or otherwise secure your work depending on what it is) and then put it away.  For example, when I'm doing office work that I can't finish, I will paper clip all relevant documents together and put them in my inbox to be addressed asap.  If I were weeding the garden, I'd mark my stopping point, put my tools away, then come back to it when I could.

Another idea is to batch like work together.  At home, this could mean putting all of your mail in a pile and addressing all of it each Saturday morning.  Emails are another time-sucker...close your email program (either at home or work) and open it twice a day.  Open one email at a time and take an action immediately:  Either delete it, respond immediately (if it only takes a minute or two), or file it in an appropriate folder (Action, Save, etc.) and handle it accordingly.  The idea behind batching work together is that it's faster to do 5 similar tasks at the same time (since you'll be working with your flow mojo instead of against it) than doing the same tasks individually at random times.

If none of this is ringing a bell, think about your computer.  It looks like it's doing many things at once, right?  Guess what...It's not.  It's actually executing only one process at a time, but doing so at such a fast rate, it appears to be doing many things at once.  And you know what?  You work the same way.  If you give each thing you do your full and undivided attention, you too will process it much faster and switch to another task more quickly.  Then you'll  complete that task at lightning speed leaving your co-workers to wonder if you are not, in fact, actually a Pentium processor in a fabulous outfit!

Do you have any "flow mojo" tips to share?  If so, please add them to the 'comments' section below.