• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Wealth Pilgrim

No Money Worries. No Matter What.

Neal Frankle featured in
  • Home
  • Life Insurance
  • Investing
    • Build Strong Investment Building Blocks To Avoid Going Broke In Retirement
    • Systematic Mutual Fund and ETF Investing
    • Stock Market Investing Guide
    • Choosing the Right Investment Brokerage Guide
    • How Bonds Work Guide
    • How Banks Really Work Guide
    • Annuities – What You Need To Know Before You Invest
    • A Beginners Guide To Buying Individual Stocks
    • Create A Pool Of Great Mutual Funds and ETFs To Pick From To Secure Your Retirement
    • ETF and Index Fund Investment Guide
  • Earn More
  • Banking
  • Retirement Planning
    • Retirement Guide
  • Ask Neal a Question
  • Reviews
    • Upgrade Personal Loans Review
    • Lending Club Review
    • Prosper Review
    • Ally Invest TradeKing Review
    • CIT Bank Review
    • LegalZoom Review
    • Lexington Law Review
    • Airbnb Host Review
    • Should You Drive For Uber?
  • Tax
  • Courses
    • Raise Your Credit Score So You Can Buy a House – Free Video Course

Why And How To Stop Multitasking

by Neal Frankle, CFP ®, The article represents the author's opinion. This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure for more info.

If you want to do better and feel better you should slow down and stop multitasking. That’s right. If you can wrestle control of your life back from the clutches of your cell phone and computer screen, you’ll have a fuller life and do better on the job to boot.

This might seem counter intuitive to you. After all, if it’s good to get one thing done in an hour, it must be great to get 3 things done in an hour. Right? Well….if you actually could get things done faster it would indeed be great. The truth is you can’t.

According to communications professor Clifford Nass, of Stanford University, when you go from one computer-related task to another without completing the first task it dulls your brain. In fact, hard-core multitaskers generally do whatever they do worse than serial tasters. And it gets worse.

The professor found that people who try to do more than one thing at a time find it hard to separate out important from unimportant information. They also have trouble switching gears and “going with the flow”.

The solution is easy – do one thing at a time.  For example, check your email twice a day and don’t leave that screen until your inbox is empty.  Sadly this is far easier said than done. At least that’s what I’ve found. I struggle with multitasking blight as well. Over time, I realized how unproductive this was. Slowly, I learned to unplug. I discovered that I don’t have to respond to every call or email real time. And I learned that by sticking to one task at a time, I’d be much more successful, stress-free and more fun to be around. Here’s how I did it:

1. List

I am a huge fan of having a daily “to do” list with no more than 5 items on it. And everyone I know who uses a list to organize their day is happy they do so. This became super productive for me when I started doing the least attractive task first. By doing so, I got good traction when I had the most energy and I got a win early in the day. Also, everything else seemed much easier to knock off. Score!

2. Reality Time

I realized that much of my “multitasking” was really task avoidance. My hunch is that we “multitask” when we are bored but want to look busy.

How did I cure this malady? I acknowledge that there will be times during the day when I will get bored. This happens to everyone. But I also acknowledge that I have to get the job done sooner or later and that I’ll get it done better and faster if I just stick with it. That mind-set helped a lot.  I rarely waste time anymore.

3. Get Up

Sometimes, our bodies just need to move around. I often get up from my desk and just walk around the office for 5 or 10 minutes. This clears my head. I also exercise 3 or 4 times a week and this is a great help too. Try it. You’ll like it.

4. Get Down

Sometimes I get tired at work. At that point, I’m no good to anyone. When that happens, I take a little 20 minute siesta. When I wake up, I feel like a brand new Pilgrim. It’s super easy to remain laser focused and I’m ready to take on whatever the world has in store.

We are only human. That means we really can’t do more than one thing at a time if we want to do it well. Acknowledge this and use it to your advantage. Slow down. Unplug. Do one thing at a time. Say “no” to interruptions. Don’t answer every call or email immediately. The world won’t stop turning. And you’ll be amazed at how much faster you get work done well.

Do you multitask? Is it effective for you? If so, how do you pull it off?

 

Tweet
Pin
Share4

Reader Interactions

User Generated Content (UGC) Disclosure: Please note that the opinions of the commenters are not necessarily the opinions of this site.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Are You Human? * Time limit is exhausted. Please reload CAPTCHA.

Primary Sidebar

Who is Neal Frankle

Neal Frankle

I'm a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ Professional with more than 25 years of experience. I feel very blessed and hope to share my personal financial experience and professional wisdom with readers of WealthPilgrim.
Read More »

Stay Connected

Facebook Twitter YouTube RSS

More Categories

Career Development
College Funding
Credit Cards
Credit Score Fixes
Money and Marriage
Debt Relief
Estate Protection
Property Investment Loans
Small Business Strategies
Spend Less Money

Disclaimer

Wealth Pilgrim is not responsible for and does not endorse any advertising, products or resource available from advertisements on this website. Wealth Pilgrim receives compensation from Google for advertising space on this website, but does not control the advertising selection or content. Please do the appropriate research before participating in any third party offers. The information contained in WealthPilgrim.com is for general information or entertainment purposes only and does not constitute professional financial advice. Please contact an independent financial professional for advice regarding your specific situation. Wealth Pilgrim does not provide investment advisory services and is not a registered investment adviser. Neal may provide advisory services through Wealth Resources Group, a registered investment adviser. Wealth Pilgrim and Wealth Resources Group are affiliated companies. In accordance with FTC guidelines, we state that we have a financial relationship with some of the companies mentioned in this website. This may include receiving payments,access to free products and services for product and service reviews and giveaways. Any references to third party products, rates, or websites are subject to change without notice. We do our best to maintain current information, but due to the rapidly changing environment, some information may have changed since it was published. Please do the appropriate research before participating in any third party offers.


About · Contact · Disclaimer & Privacy policy

Copyright © Wealth Pilgrim 2022 All Rights Reserved