An Approachable Look at Multitasking Versus Focus
***Originally published on JoyMadeApproachable.com on May 6th, 2022.
Hi!
Welcome to, or welcome back to, my home on the internet! I’m happy you’re here and I hope you’re doing well!
As I’ve been working from home more and more the past few years, I’ve come up against something that I couldn’t always identify right away, but now I can: stress and brain fog. It was particularly bad when I was helping plan our wedding and working multiple jobs last year.
Now that my husband Chris and I are settling into our marriage, and I’m focusing on my writing and client work, this has gotten a lot better. However, it hasn’t completely disappeared. I was talking with Chris about this and he mentioned the concept of context switching. I’ve heard of context switching but had never really looked into the idea before.
Context Switching
According to Forbes.com, “context switching is jumping between two unrelated tasks, or multi-tasking.”
However, our brains aren’t designed to jump between tasks rapidly. None of these tasks are getting your entire attention.
According to Psychology Today, context switching is “expensive.” The amount of time it takes for you to complete a task goes up if you switch between them, rather than doing them one at a time.
Two Ideas That Can Help
Let me be clear – I don’t believe our worth and value are based on our productivity. However, for me, I know it feels better to be fully focused on a task, rather than rapidly switching between multiple tasks and not being productive at all, resulting in stress and brain fog.
The 80/20 rule
Being busy does not mean being effective. According to Psychology Today, “20% of the work you do gives 80% of the impact and effectiveness….Focus on identifying the 20% of your tasks that are really effective, and do them one at a time.”
Concentrated time
Also according to Psychology Today, another idea is concentrated time. This means spending a longer amount of time on a task. For instance, how I might implement this is choosing certain days to complete certain tasks, such as days to focus on writing, client days, and a meal-prep day, as well as a Sabbath day, and a reset day for the week ahead, rather than trying to do a little of all of these things each day.
Wrapping Up ❤
I don’t want to suggest that this is the solution to all of your problems. But, I hope this small insight can help a little with your everyday life.
Until Next Time ❤
Thanks so much for reading, and learning something new with me! I appreciate it!
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“Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you. Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways.” Proverbs 4:25-26
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