Breaking Barriers - Distraction from Multitasking

Multitasking has been widely recognized as an important skill to have in today’s fast paced and competitive business environment. The notion is that one can do more with less time and in the process withstand multiple interruptions and handle a wide variety of tasks in the course of a workday. New research indicates that multitasking not only results in the loss of time, but it reduces overall effectiveness and the accuracy of performance in the specific categories of tasks involved. The busyness associated with task switching reduces the valuable self-talk and mental processing time we need for effective decision-making. In fact, the overall switch-cost from one activity to the next could represent as much as 20 – 40% reduction in overall productivity.