Monotasking is the latest mantra of youngsters

In a quest to match up with the moving times, most people end up multitasking, leading to a complete burnout. According to a recent study, every time we switch between tasks, we tend to drain out our neural resources, thereby feeling tired at the end of the day. So if you're one of those who keep checking your phones while at a restaurant or are easily distracted by social media when you are doing an important task, you might want to slow down and take one step at a time.

Monotasking is the new multitasking

Anyone who has multitasked will agree that there comes a point when they feel saturated and wish to do absolutely nothing, including investing time for their hobbies. What was earlier limited to juggling between two and three tasks at the same time is now replaced by social media and technology.

 
One can attribute this to the rising struggle to overachieve, leading to shuttling between jobs, trying to accomplish over and above one's capacity. Studies have indicated that it can reduce one's productivity by as much as 40 per cent. This can lead to the inference that the more one multitasks, the worse they are at it. Life coach Milind Jadhav elaborates, "Switching your focus from one task to the other makes you lose momentum. Most people who come to me for consultation know the minuses of multitasking but continue doing it because they feel they are underperforming."

Why one should try it out

The fast-paced city life makes one feel they need to achieve a lot. Some of the other reasons why people are taking to Monotasking are...

It helps to focus all your energies on a single task. Psychiatrist and cognitive therapist Shefali Batra says, "The human mind isn't designed to accomplish several things at once. Though many of us wish to, we often lack the ability to accomplish all of it at one time. When multitasking, we decrease our potential for perfection, lower our performance levels and place ourselves at risk for stress, errors and inefficiency."

It helps to save time. So you finish a task quickly and move on.

It can improve learning. Psychiatrist Rajesh Goyal says, "While performing a task, there are four important factors that come into play — attention, concentration, registration and retrieval. While monotasking, all of this is in place and the results are better. Multitasking, on the other hand, leads to forgetfulness among youngsters as well."

Side-effects

From physical stress to emotional breakdown at an early age, studies say that multitasking creates a 'bottleneck' of responses, thereby causing stress.
And because you are always tired, you don't itch to do things you love.

You become used to the hustle-bustle of life. People just tend to get anxious if they feel they aren't doing enough whereas in reality, it's just an illusion.

Once you get accustomed to the chaos, it may take you a while before you can do one thing at a time. Here are some measures that can help you unitask with perfection:

Step aside from tasks that mentally challenge you every once in a while. Indulge in an activity that will not take over what you are already up to - walk a few steps, listen to the sounds of nature or simply peep out of the window. Do not check your phone or listen to songs as it might lead you off track.

Doing one thing at a time leads to increased accuracy, innovation and helps accomplish a task speedily.

If you are out with friends and you know one of them is a phubber (someone who snubs you by being constantly on phone), make a rule that whoever looks at their phones will have to pay for everybody else's bill. It's a win-win situation! Adds Rajesh, "Similarly, if you mix tasks at home, the punishment can be assigning certain chores to the one who violates the rule."

Make a pact with yourself. Create a to-do list, plan, have some clarity and allot not more than two, or maximum three major tasks for a day.

Source | Times of India | 10 June 2016

Regards

Pralhad Jadhav

Senior Manager @ Library

Khaitan & Co

Blog | http://pralhad-fyilibrarian.blogspot.in/

Best Paper Award | Received the Best Paper Award at TIFR-BOSLA National Conference on Future Librarianship: Innovation for Excellence (NCFL 2016) on April 23, 2016.  The title of the paper is “Removing Barriers to Literacy: Marrakesh VIP Treaty”

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