Distractions

Few things are more frustrating than trying to do work while distractions are going on around you. If other people are continually interrupting you or there are things that keep pulling your attention from the task at hand, everything takes longer and you are more prone to mistakes.^[1]

Many people say they work better with distractions—they prefer to leave the television or the radio on—but the truth is that an environment with too many interruptions is rarely helpful when focus is required. Before deciding that the television or talkative roommates do not bother you when you work, take an honest accounting of the work you produce with interruptions compared to work you do without.

If you find that your work is better without distractions, it is a good idea to create an environment that reduces interruptions. This may mean you have to go to a private room, use headphones, or go somewhere like a library to work. Regardless, the importance of a distraction-free environment cannot be emphasized enough.

Multitasking

“Multitasking”—doing several things at the same time—has become a common word for describing what many of us do every day in the modern world. Our busy lifestyles and our ever-present devices suggest that many of us have become multitasking experts. But is multitasking real? Is it possible to do several things at the same time? Can we actually check Facebook, watch television, read a textbook, and write a paper at roughly the same time . . . productively?

Switch Tasks = Lose Productivity

Evidence suggests that multitasking is not, in fact, possible. Psychology research shows that we can attend to only one cognitive task at a time.^[2] What we call multitasking is actually just switching back and forth between tasks quickly. This isn’t necessarily a problem, but we lose time with each switch. The loss may only be one-tenth of a second, but the time adds up. Think about your own experience.

Busy Brains

Researchers have found that multitasking increases production of the stress hormone, cortisol, and the fight-or-flight hormone, adrenaline.^[3] These hormone-level increases can cause the brain to literally overheat, which leads to foggy mental processing. So multitasking while studying for a final exam might not be a good idea.

Multitasking also taxes the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain that integrates information. Your capacity for problem-solving decreases with the number of tasks you try to perform at the same time.

Personal Technology: Helping or Hindering Your Study Efforts

The perceived need to multitask is driven largely by the technology takeover of recent years. Smartphones, email, social networking, Instagram, and Twitter all make multitasking seem both necessary and possible. They all require switching in and out of a line of thinking. With these technologies, we face constant information overload and distraction.

Becoming More Productive

How can we become more productive with our time and energy, given our tendency to multitask? Consider these tips:

1. Try “batch processing”: have set times during the day for checking and responding to emails.
2. Use concentrated time: block off time for working on just one task. You may need to turn off your phone.
3. Do what’s most important first: make goals for the day and accomplish them. The sense of achievement can help you resist anxiety-driven multitasking.

Other Strategies to Increase Your Productivity

• Create a to-do list everyday. This to-do list should include all the tasks that must be completed that day based on due dates. Your daily to-do list can also include components or segments or other long-term tasks that you need to accomplish during the semester. An example could be conducting research for a paper you need to write.
• Don’t wait to complete tasks that can be accomplished in a short period of time. When presented with a task that will only take a minute or two, you should complete it immediately to ensure your to-do list isn’t cluttered with minor tasks.
• Set a specific amount of time to work. This means you can work for 25 minutes and take a five-minute break or schedule a longer period of 90 minutes with a longer break. You can set the amount of time you work on a task based on the items on your to-do list each day. This process will keep you focused on the task knowing a break is scheduled soon.
• While it will seem counterintuitive, take breaks to keep yourself fresh and energized throughout the day.

What are your thoughts on multitasking? How does it affect your productivity? The following video, from the University of British Columbia, features students talking about multitasking. Does it exist? Is it effective? Listen in or view the full discussion on multitasking by University of British Columbia.

You can view the transcript for “UBC Students Talk: Multitasking—Does It Work?” here (opens in new window).