Multitasking is Bullshit

I know there is a lot of hype on the internet about life hacks and shortcuts and “one simple trick that will X, Y, Z” but this article is about a very simple exercise in self control that will not only decrease your risk of dying prematurely but will also increase your productivity and improve your Game at the same time. To give this article some context, we need to back up a little. At one time there existed a great source of pride among women. They claimed to have a *cough cough* unique ability to be better multitaskers than men. Clearly the busy career woman is better at doing multiple things at once, and not just because she is forced to by the demands of modern life but because she is inherently wired differently providing her with near supra-natural abilities to carry on multiple activities at one time. And men collectively hung our heads in shame for our lack of cognitive RAM necessary to talk on the phone and paint our nails at the same time. But wait! There may be some hope on the horizon. It turns out that in fact, multitasking is bullshit.

Yes gentlemen, you read that right. Instead of simultaneously carrying on multiple tasks at one time, the brain instead seems to shift back and forth between 2 or more tasks quickly, giving the illusion that we are working on all of those things at once. What this really means is that anyone who thinks they are a great multitasker is actually just really good at self-deception.

Spinning Plates

An apt metaphor for multitasking would be spinning plates. Technically while all of the plates may be spinning at the same time, the acrobat spinning them can really only attend to one plate at a time spinning each one in turn. Sound familiar? When discussed as a dating technique, Spinning Plates actually works because you can really only pay attention to one woman at a time. The concentration needed at any given time on one girl prevents you from spending too much energy or time on another (for the time being) which has the effect of making you seem less thirsty, less available and therefore more of a catch and better able to hold frame because you have options. This inability to really focus on more than any one thing at a time becomes a liability though when your full attention is actually needed.

In fact some studies show that multitasking can reduce your productivity by 40%! Changing back and forth between tasks can slow you down and this effect gets more pronounced as the tasks increase in complexity. This is not revolutionary stuff here, it’s just applied to your life and the things you have to do every day. The solution to multitasking is unitasking, a silly term which just means you’re only concentrating on one task or event at a time. The process of breaking up tasks into separate parts is known as “batching” and every industry concerned with a high efficiency of production uses this technique.

Batching

Sous chefs use this when prepping food for the line. You wouldn’t dice an onion, then a carrot, then a stalk of celery one at a time, switching between them. It’s clearly much more efficient to dice all of the onions at once, then move to the carrots, then the celery. I handle food prep, housework and laundry the same way.

When presented with a huge pile of clothes fresh out of the drier I start by grouping likes together. I’ll grab all of the socks quickly and throw them into one pile, then all of the boxers into another and t-shirts into a third pile. Once I’ve got my separate groups then I will quickly and efficiently fold all of them up, one group at a time because the way I fold (or roll) my boxers is different from pairing socks and rolling them, which is different from folding my t-shirts. It seems like a small change but when added together and used throughout your day the savings on time and more importantly mental energy can be dramatic. Not only is it easier physically to stay on one task at a time, getting more efficient with each round performed but the mental energy you save from sticking with one task at a time can be amazing. I find my mind wanders in a really pleasant way where my subconscious starts working on problems that have been rolling around my brain for days or weeks.

Many people have experienced this phenomenon. How many times have you heard someone say “I do my best thinking in the shower.”? This isn’t by accident. The shower is physically isolating. Most people close or lock the bathroom door. The physical parameters of the shower are small and intimate with minimal distractions. Although there are all sorts of interesting things people do in the shower when they’re alone, your ability to get distracted is pretty limited. The repetitive nature of washing oneself lends itself to a contemplative atmosphere. Idly washing your hair or scrubbing under your fingernails gives a man time to think.

Many people use smoking as a similarly contemplative exercise. The physical removal of oneself to a particular chair or room for smoking or going outside reduces your distractions. The ritual of pulling out your preferred method of ingestion (cigarette, cigar, or pipe), preparing the tobacco and lighting it – taking that first pull all work to give you pause and allow a few moments respite from the whirring world around you.  Personally, I’ve found a very interesting side-effect of batching that has been exploited for centuries by everyone from craftsmen focusing on one task at a time to Shaolin monks sweeping their temple. It’s known as flow.

Flow

Once you get used to batching tasks it gets a lot easier. You fall into a rhythm and everything starts to make sense. Your work gets better, more efficient. You hit your groove and it almost seems like the work does itself. Now that may sounds like I’m waxing poetic on doing dishes or mopping your floor but the truth is, once you experience it you realize it’s the only way to work. I worked at an old fashioned butcher shop for 11 years while going through high school through graduate school and I can honestly say I’ve done some of my best thinking while mixing 60lb batches of ground pork over and over, or while peeling 40lbs of potatoes at a clip. The work becomes relaxing and contemplative instead of monotonous and soul crushing. Flow is the secret element that saved me from wanted to slit my wrists after standing at the same bench cranking out sausages for the third consecutive hour.

Simply put, flow is the experience of being wholly absorbed in a given task. Some people call this “being in the zone”. Flow occurs when we let our conscious minds slip away while immersed in our activity. Do you remember playing as a kid and it seemed like you could build with your blocks, doodle aimlessly or create epic war dramas with your action figures for hours on end? That’s flow. When you look up from your activity and hours have passed and you didn’t even notice. That’s flow. Sex can be like that if you do it right. In future posts I will cover my absolutely favorite tool that makes batching second nature, how flow can improve your life, and some practical ways to use batching in your life.

Have you ever tried any of these techniques? Leave some of your best tips in the comments section below.