Back in the 80’s the big buzz word was “multi-tasking”. Everyone talked about how they were great multi-taskers and that’s exactly what managers were looking for.

However, test after test have shown us that we simply aren’t capable of truly focusing on more than 1 thing at a time. When we do, you end up making mistakes.

Studies have shown that it if we get distracted by something else, it actually takes us about 25 minutes to refocus on a task.

People actually believe that working like this makes us better workers. In that study, people were asked to answer emails and were bombarded by distractions – people walking into their office, phone calls, etc. They found that the participants actually worked FASTER after distractions in an effort to catch up, but the amount of mistakes they made were far higher.

Action STEP:

Next week, block out 2 thirty minute blocks of time in your calendar where you will work on 2 specific tasks.  During that block, turn off your phone, lock your door, put out a Do Not Disturb sign and work on nothing other than that specific task and see how productive you can be.

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