Multitasking – How This Time Management Skill Affects Your Productivity

When and if you “multitask” – doing more than one task at a time – does it make you more productive or efficient?

Psychologists who study what happens to cognition (mental processes) when people try to perform more than one task at a time have found that the mind and brain were not designed for heavy-duty multitasking. They uncovered this finding by measuring the cost in time for switching tasks – the “switch costs” incurred by multitasking.

Doing more than one task at a time – especially more than one complex task – takes a toll on productivity.

Your “switch costs” – the cost of time incurred when you switch from one task to another – can add up to the point can cost as much as forty percent of your productive time.

You can read the Meyer, Evans and Rubinstein article from the American Psychological Association by clicking HERE.