Today I was scanning a twelve page document to email to someone who didn’t have a fax.  On page eleven I somehow hit the wrong button and exited out of the document.  I was unable to pull up the scanned pages again; obviously my work had been erased.  I had been culling through my book shelf and pulling out dated books to get rid of at the same time and was distracted.  The joke on me was that I thought I was saving time by doing two things at once.  

But, I was getting more done, right?  Wrong.  Due to my unwillingness to sit patiently while I handled the scanning project in front of me, I lost the entire project and another half hour of my time starting again.  Both projects required similar brain channels rather than different ones, such as if one task was verbal and the other visual.  According to experts that was making my ability to focus on both a real challenge.  (Read more about how doing tasks that use entirely different brain channels can be done simulatenously: In Defense of Distraction)

So not all multitasking is inefficient.  If you’re walking to your office and notice along the way something that goes there, then it makes sense to pick it up and bring it with you.  But conducting two separate projects that divide your attention in opposing ways, is self-defeating and frequently leads to errors.  Rather than stumble into this problem again, I’ve decided to stop and ask myself if what I want to do next can simply wait a few minutes.  Or, does it have to get done simultaneously and, if so, am I willing to run the risk of error or wasted time if I can’t align my focus.

You can align your focus using your executive function, or self-control mechanism, of your brain and redirecting your attention.  But it isn’t an unconscious decision and can require hyperfocusing your energy to get both accomplished well.  Studies are being  constantly done to find the way the brain behaves best.  But it’s important to gauge the benefits or problems of multitasking for you.

Where have you found yourself redoing tasks because your focus wasn’t on it fully in the first place and how often does that occur vs. saving time and energy multitasking?