The person basically works in mode. How to multitask while saving energy for your personal life

• What is multitasking mode.
• How easy it is to learn how to multitask.
• How to be productive with multitasking.
• What are the methods of multitasking.

The lack of time to perform various tasks negatively affects the efficiency of the company as a whole, so it is important for the manager to be able to work in multitasking mode.

In this article, we will tell you how to learn how to multitask, what methods to use for this, and also give successful examples.

What is multitasking

In the 21st century, the office work of the majority leaders looks something like this: an open office, a huge number of employees, the noise of telephone negotiations, 1C is open on the computer, a browser with mail and 3-4 more tabs, among which there is definitely a social network ... At the same time, phone calls are received from colleagues or clients, an urgent need to send a contract, print a manual and knock out a report in Excel.

It's like a game where as soon as you try to finish one thing, another one pops up. Constant switching between tasks increases the time it takes to complete even a simple task.

Today's managers call such a load work in multitasking mode.

In 2014, scientists from the University of Sussex conducted a study in which they found that about 90% of people use two multimedia devices at the same time.

For example, a laptop and a phone for communication. This is also a reflection of the multitasking mode. Moreover, it affects people, according to scientists, not very well.

There is a decrease in the density of gray matter in the anterior cortex of the brain. This is exactly the part of the brain that is responsible for cognitive processes.

Research author Kepki Loh noticed that such a mode of interaction changes the structure of thinking in people. However, the impact of such changes can be both negative and positive. For example, for people with creative abilities, quickly switching between ideas had a positive effect on the implementation projects.

How to stay productive throughout the day

The ancient Greek orator and statesman Demosthenes, in order to increase his efficiency, shaved off part of his hair on his head. It was embarrassing to go out in public in this form, so he stayed at home and devoted himself entirely to writing speeches.

And how do the leaders of large Russian companies increase their efficiency? Find out more than 25 ways in this CEO e-zine article.

Multitasking vs Monotasking

In the same 2014, scientists from the University of Montreal conducted an experiment involving older people. They were asked to solve 2 tasks, and the ratio of time spent was according to the Parreto principle 20/80.

The subjects spent 80% of the time on one task, and 20% on the second. Their brain activity was recorded on MRI.

Scientists have recorded increased brain activity in the area of ​​the anterior prefrontal cortex. This indicates that if a person constantly has to perform several tasks, then most likely his brain begins to adapt to new working conditions.

But the brain doesn't just adapt. Such workout lead to the development of a new way of thinking and approach to work. It is much more difficult for a specialist with a multitasking schedule to concentrate on doing one thing. The longer he multitasks, the more difficult it becomes to concentrate.

This approach leads to a number of negative consequences:

• Violation of business ethics. You can notice how a person in a business conversation is constantly distracted from a colleague, checks mail, answers phone calls. For the interlocutor, this is a sign of a lack of interest in dialogue. There is a breakdown in contact, which contributes to the interruption business conversations. It calls into question the professionalism of a specialist.
• Trouble completing important tasks. The more a person immerses himself in multitasking, the more difficult it is for him to concentrate on a specific task. It becomes difficult to filter information and go about daily activities.
• Emotional burnout. Constant stress from hard work with accumulating cases provokes the production of the stress hormone. This hormone suppresses activity and leaves a feeling of complete exhaustion and fatigue in the evening.

The generally accepted opinion of experienced managers: switching between activities reduces efficiency, so it is better to work in monotasking mode. Is it so?

Psychologists David Sanbonmatsu and David Strayer postulated monotasking: it is better to focus on one task and complete it, and then move on to the next. Through long-term research, they determined that people who do several things at once have reduced IQ scores and productivity when solving logical problems.

Psychologists also developed the concept of “false multitasking”, in which a number of symptoms are observed:

• Difficulty concentrating on one thought or task for a long time.
• Rapid fatigue from routine work.
• Search for new sensations.
• impulsive decisions.

The unequivocal answer of researchers to the question posed is that the monotasking mode is more efficient.

But what if the working day consists of a large volume of different things?

An alternate view of multitasking

Alain Bludorn in his research found that the ability to work in a multitasking state depends on the predisposition of a person. Bludorn himself has been conducting research for several decades, which speaks of his high level of concentration on one thing.

The study showed that there are multi-tasking people who tend to do several things at the same time, and they can do them well.

One of the clearest examples of a multi-tasking person can be called Ilona Mask, CEO of Tesla. Musk runs several companies. He is currently involved in projects related to space, tunneling, automobiles and energy.

To feel comfortable in this mode of operation, Musk developed several rules:

• He divides the working day into short segments, each of which is devoted to a certain activity.
• He doesn't have a standard lunch break. Lunches and dinners between meetings.
• Selects in the team only those people with whom there is interpersonal trust.
• Has a clear agenda for each day.

With this multitasking mode, Musk successfully finds time for your family.

Musk himself says that the secret is in a varied pastime: he goes out of town with his children, to his factories, and even goes camping with tents.

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Multitasking: The Zeigarnik Effect

In 1927, an experiment was conducted by the doctor of psychological sciences Bluma Zeigarnik. It involved participants from different age groups. Each of the participants was asked to solve 20 problems of various types (from mathematical to abstract).

Participants were periodically interrupted at the moment when they were at their maximum concentrated on the decision. This approach simulated the mode of operation in multitasking conditions.

According to participants' feedback, Zeigarnik determined that unfinished tasks were remembered 90% better than those that were completed.

It was concluded that opening new cases in the presence of unfinished ones is not so scary. Moreover, if they are important and you need to keep them in memory, then an interrupt can contribute to this.

The ABVGD Method for Multitasking

A well-known time management specialist, Brian Tracy, suggests using the ABCHD method and gives a number of basic recommendations:

• Do not open multiple work files or browser tabs at once. It is recommended to keep open only those in which you will work right now.
• The working day must be planned by the hour. Cases are divided into small ones, a specific time is planned for them.

Poll of 2,147 managers who have subordinate employees.
Research Service statistics HeadHunter company.

• Save important information to a flash drive or other storage medium. A large overload of the brain leads to the loss of part of the information from the working memory. If you suddenly need information at an important meeting, you will have a reliable assistant in the form of a flash card at hand.
• Give your brain a little rest before starting something new.. For example, walk around the office or go to lunch at a cafe.

To understand what place a task occupies in the rating, letter designations are used:

• A- the most important, if they are not fulfilled, there will be serious consequences for work (an urgent meeting with the general manager, a meeting with a major client by prior arrangement, an annual report to the tax office).
• B- important matters that affect the result of work activities, but they can be rescheduled for another time (current work in the department, scheduled calls to clients or colleagues).
• IN- you can not do it, they do not affect the business in any way (drink coffee, chat with colleagues at lunch).
• G- can be delegated to employees (set a meeting with a client, prepare analytics for a report).
• D– these tasks should be ignored (social media communication during working hours).

How to work with the to-do list "ABVGD"

At the beginning of the week, you need to distribute cases into groups from the algorithm. It often happens that there are several tasks in one group. This means that they are all important and need to be addressed right now.

To plan them, look at what day of the week you will do this work. If important things fall into the plan within one day, then build a priority between them or break them into equal periods of time. So you can progress throughout the day on each of the activities.

According to this scheme, the amount of work is distributed for a day, month, quarter or longer. At the same time, there will be constant progress in the activity, because it is the important tasks that are being performed. If time remains, then we move on to small matters and routine.

Some employees list “the ability to multitask” as one of the important business qualities in their resumes, and some employers call it the same, making up a portrait of the ideal candidate. However, in reality, trying to multitask can undermine your health and ruin your career.

dangerous delusion

Management guru Peter Drucker wrote in one of his articles: “I have never met a leader who, while performing more than two tasks at the same time, could still be effective.” However, the myth that you can multitask and remain efficient is somehow still alive. And even despite the assurances of scientists who claim that multitasking is unnatural, and under no circumstances is the human brain capable of simultaneously working on two tasks at the same time, there are still those who are ready to argue with them, proving the opposite. "You feel like you're doing several things at once, but in reality you're putting tasks in a certain order and deciding which one to do at a particular time," says Jordan Grafman, head of cognitive neuroscience at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). ).

David Meyer, director of the University of Michigan's Laboratory for Brain, Cognition and Human Performance, says that multitasking slows things down (by a factor of two or more) and increases the chances of making mistakes. According to him, switching and interruptions interfere with our ability to process information, significantly reduce productivity. "People may think otherwise, but that's a myth," he says. “It is impossible to overcome the inherent limitations of the brain.”

Those who believe that human possibilities are limitless and systematically force their brains with multitasking, as a result, they pay with their own health. The habit of jumping from task to task, not only at work, but also outside of it, as a result, leads the brain into a state of overexcitation. A person loses the ability to concentrate, he begins to have problems with sleep, headaches and other ailments. In fact, he is gradually losing his ability to work. What a career...

Multitasking and multitasking

David Meyer identifies three types of people who are at risk of falling prey to multitasking. The first are those whom life forces to work in an unnatural rhythm. Such people try to do several things at the same time (for example, talking on the phone and looking through papers), considering this the only way to be competitive. The second are those who multitask without realizing it. Such people, for example, may give up writing a report halfway through to check their mail again. They jump from one task to another without realizing that this reduces efficiency.

The third type of people are those who pride themselves on their "ability to multitask". “A lot of people are deluded into thinking they're good at it,” Meyer says. - But the problem is that everyone's brain is the same, and it doesn't work that way. In reality, no one can effectively perform more than one complex task at a given time.”

Despite the fact that scientists provide compelling evidence of the harm of multitasking, it is becoming increasingly difficult for people to avoid it. Paradoxically, modern technology, instead of simplifying our lives, has made it even more complicated. The Institute for the Future (IFTF) conducted a study that examined the experience of employees of Fortune 1000 companies. It turned out that each of them receives an average of 178 messages per day and is interrupted at least three times within an hour. It is clear that productivity does not increase from this. Jonathan Spear, chief analyst at research firm Basex, estimates that employee interruptions cost the US economy $650 billion annually.

survival technology

If you consider yourself a reasonable person, it is in your power to organize your workflow in such a way as to protect yourself from destructive multitasking. Use a few simple tips to make your life easier.

Try to constantly “store” only the most necessary things in your head, and use “external memory media” for the rest. It's not about the next technological innovations. Follow the example of Albert Einstein, who once said that he did not keep in mind what could be written down on paper. Carry a notepad with you or set reminders in your Outlook calendar - choose what is more convenient for you.

Write to-do lists and arrange the order of completion. Try to estimate how much time each will take and compare with the actual time spent. Group tasks, while doing them, try not to be distracted yourself and take measures so that you are not distracted by others. Check your mail not every five minutes, but at certain time intervals. For example, once an hour. If possible, turn on the answering machine on your phone. Try to negotiate with colleagues about "reception hours". Most of the questions that are addressed to you during the day are not so important and urgent. And you have one health, take care of it.

Materials used in the preparation of the article

When the first IBM operating system was created in the early 1960s, users were amazed by the ability of a computer to perform several functions at the same time. That is, the processor easily switched from one task to another, gradually bringing them all to their logical conclusion. Impressed by this effect, they tried to transfer multitasking to the sphere of human activity. Then it seemed that the ability to do several things at the same time is a very useful skill, mastering which you can multiply your efficiency in work while saving a lot of time. Is it really? Let's figure it out.

What is multitasking?

Let's start with a definition. Multitasking is the ability, ability, skill to perform several processes at the same time, switching from one task to another. Initially, the term was used purely in the programming environment, but gradually migrated to production and the sphere of human activity.

Most likely you have heard more than once about the outstanding abilities of Caesar to do two or more things at the same time. Inspired by such a “feat”, you “pushed” diligence in performing one thing to the far shelf and tried to switch from one task to another, then to a third, and so on. Just a little bit and what is the result?

And as a result, you got several started tasks and not a single completed one. On top of that, you are completely confused about what to do first and what to leave for last. And, most importantly, you have wasted time and brain resources. Motivation at zero, com unfinished tasks skyrocketed. As a result, negative efficiency and a stressful situation. We've arrived.

The ability to multitask is not such a useful and valuable skill as it seems at first glance. Research shows that multitasking harms a person's ability to work. We are not robots, fortunately, so the productivity of work largely depends on the ability to concentrate on one task. We carry out a chain of cases sequentially, completing one and starting another. As the goals are achieved, the motivation and desire to achieve great success grows, time is saved. It would seem that by grabbing two things at once, the time to complete the tasks should be cut in half. But in reality, it will take twice as much effort and at the same time the chances of successful completion will be reduced.

For example, you need to arrange 10 plates on the table, water the flowers on the windowsill in 10 vases and send out 10 invitation SMS. Let's try to turn on the multitasking mode - this means we do everything at once, jumping from one task to another. We put 3 plates, ran to water 3 flower vases, and then, or simultaneously with watering, sent 3 SMS. We returned to the plates, followed by vases and again messages. And so in a circle. Simple tasks, but by doing them all at once, you will get tired more and spend more time. At the same time, in the middle of the whole action, the side effects of multitasking will turn on: instead of sending an SMS, for some reason you will pour water on your phone or put a plate on the windowsill, and not on the table.

Now do the same simple tasks in sequence: dishes first, then watering, and finally sending messages. You will be surprised - and things go faster and the brain is intact!

Let's complicate the load, or rather make it close to reality. For example, you are writing a report or presentation and at the same time checking new messages in classmates or VK, responding to SMS or requests from colleagues to help on an “urgent” matter. In 99% of cases, working in such a multitasking mode, you will notice that the time has flown inexplicably where, the working mood has disappeared, and only 10-15% of the main work has been done. The shocking conclusion: The more distracted you are, the harder it is to focus on work. Gadgets, social media accounts, email, and more are devourers of time and effort that you could better spend on a useful cause.

We greatly exaggerate the importance of communication - this idea seems so out of date in our era. But, if you plan to complete the task as efficiently and quickly as possible, then turn off all irritants. This will help you focus on the task at hand.

How to work in this mode?

Multitasking at work is a combination of the following qualities: analytical thinking, a systematic approach, and high organization. The requirements are not the easiest, but in order to develop them, we recommend that you adhere to the following recommendations:

• Plan things for the day, week, month ahead. It can even be useful to set tasks for 1-2 hours in order to complete them clearly and on time. However, do not make an unrealistic plan - this is one of the "tricky" ways to procrastinate. The to-do list should motivate you to achieve specific tasks, intermediate goals should be achievable in 1-2 iterations, the brain should not be clogged with unnecessary information. Another advantage of a real plan is that it will be easier for you to motivate yourself to complete a simple task.
• Sort tasks by importance. Start the most important things in the morning. Remember the 20/80 principle? First, do what brings you closer to your goal. Think like a strategist. Use the already proven methods of Brian Tracy's "ABVGD", Dwight Eisenhower's "Matrix" and, for example, read about the Bluma Zeigarnik effect.
• Loop work. What does multitasking mean in the "correct" sense of the term? You may have multiple tasks to complete in a given time period. If you attack everything at once, you will not achieve what you want. In addition, get stress and depression. To solve effectively, focus on each task. For example, take Francesco Cirillo's simple method called "working with tomatoes." That is, you know that you can work productively on a task for 45 minutes, but then you need 10-15 rest. Take a timer and set the period to three quarters of an hour. At this time, fully immerse yourself in the execution of the case. When you hear the signal - rest. Drink coffee, chat on social networks, check your mail. In a word, do what you like. After resting, start the timer again and do the work. Resting the brain after a concentration regimen is beneficial - it increases efficiency in subsequent periods of time.
• Don't get distracted while you work. Turn off all distractions during the period of concentration on the task - social networks, notifications on the phone and e-mail. All of these are time wasters. Set aside certain hours for checking mail, checking accounts, and more. No need to scroll through the social media feed every 10 minutes in search of new messages.
• Separate similar activities and projects for different times. Our brain likes to simplify everything and lump many of the same things together. That is why, being of sound mind and bright memory, we put an electric kettle on a gas stove, apply toothpaste instead of cream on the skin and do other stupid things. For example, you can combine two things quite productively: shopping at a megastore and solving business issues by phone. These actions are from different areas, so the brain sees the differences and does not mix everything together.
• Turn on music while you work. Oddly enough, but the sounds help to better focus and energize. Of course, the music should be in the theme - not to strain, not to distract attention to yourself.
• Record results. That is, transfer completed tasks to the “completed” folder - this disciplines the brain. You see what you have done in an hour, a day, a week, a month and how much is left before the finish line.
• Connect "reminders". Gadgets can become your assistants in personal efficiency. Plan for what time to set this or that task and, most importantly, fulfill your plan.
• Try to act sequentially, that is, do tasks one after another. Of course, it is sometimes necessary to do two things at once, but everything is good in moderation. Approach spending your mental resources from a position of economy: if you don’t need to strain and turn on multitasking, then you shouldn’t do it.
• Rest varied. Productivity at work is directly related to the quality of rest. You can "plow" 12 hours, come home and fall exhausted on the bed. And back to work tomorrow. This mode is suitable for robots, but a person has a strong creativity and productivity depends on how he rests after it. For example, you can lie on the couch for the weekend, staring at the TV, or go to the theater, museum, go on a picnic with friends.

Multitasking is a capricious and rather complex property of the human psyche. If we cannot curb it in order to use it for our own good, then it will saddle us and squeeze out all the juices. Remember this!

Advantages and disadvantages

Consider the benefits of multitasking:

1. With proper planning, it is indeed possible to effectively multitask at the same time. That is, when doing things, you must clearly understand what results you should achieve.
2. Multitasking helps develop mental plasticity and the ability to keep multiple tasks in focus. This is a good brain trainer.
3. The ability to do several things at the same time and do it well helps to quickly respond to force majeure, improves strategic thinking and vision of the situation. In some niches, it is really useful to immediately cover several areas at the same time, analyze their prospects, and only then make decisions on each of them.

Cons of multitasking:

1. Surface processing of information. When there is a lot of everything, the brain slides over the tops, without delving into the essence of the processes. Such a person takes the general from all areas, but is not a pro in any.
2. High probability of errors. With insufficient concentration on a task, or with the effect of transferring data from one task to another, mistakes are invariably made. The attention of a multi-machine operator is scattered, and this greatly harms the result.
3. Fatigue increases. Trying to grab onto everything at once requires a lot of energy, both physical and mental. A person gets tired faster, and productivity tends to zero.
4. Growing mountains of unfinished business. No one forbids famously starting 10-20 cases at the same time, but you should not wait for their completion as quickly. Out of 10 started cases, 1-2 tasks are brought to the finish line, while breaking all the deadlines and spending many times more effort. What about the rest? They lie and wait for their fate - for years, decades.

The consequences of multitasking can be extremely unpleasant. The cognitive load increases, that is, you have to spend more mental resources on processing the flow of information. Productivity decreases, multi-machine users often misjudge their capabilities and underestimate the power of distractions. The ability to concentrate on the task decreases, multitasking is not valued in the environment of high technologies, scientific research and other areas with complex work algorithms.

Multitasking leads to burnout. People who practice this approach disrupt the natural mechanisms of motivation and reward that are in our brain. Neuroscience has proven that the decrease in gray matter density in the anterior cingulate cortex due to stress leads to a loss of joy from mental effort.

Combining cases can be dangerous to life and health. For example, you are driving a car and trying to negotiate with a partner at the same time. The likelihood of an accident increases exponentially.

Summary

We learned what multitasking is. We learned how to work in this mode, what are the pros and cons of doing several things at the same time. Multitasking can be used to train brain plasticity, but in a work environment it is more beneficial to develop the skill of doing things sequentially. The quieter you go, the further you'll get!

Modern bosses expect their subordinates to be able to multitask. This is confirmed by the statistics of job search sites. Since the beginning of 2016, more than 40 thousand vacancies have been posted on HeadHunter.ru, which required an employee capable of "multitasking". The total number of vacancies that require "and a reader, and a reaper, and a player on the pipe" does exceed 311,000. Most often, such specialists are sought in such areas as "sales" (11 thousand vacancies), "administrative personnel" (7.2 thousand vacancies), "marketing" (5.8 thousand vacancies).

Quality suffers

I very often receive requests from business owners to find an employee who can solve all problems at once, has a "superman complex". Very often, managers do not think about the fact that when such a fighter performs several functions at the same time, the quality of task performance decreases. And it's hard to imagine that there are people who have competencies in all areas, - says Svetlana Petrovicheva, managing partner of the 21st century personnel center.

No matter how good a specialist is, there cannot be ten strengths, a maximum of two or three, confirms Alexey Frolov, a representative of AG Gustav Kaeser Training International Rus (trainings in sales and personnel management).

The paradox of multitasking is that a specialist will strive to do well what he does worse. And what he is really a professional in will be done worse than it could be, - he states. - You can often find vacancies, for example, in the PR field, where, in addition to writing texts and communicating with the media, a specialist is expected to have knowledge of a layout designer, Internet analyst, advertiser, marketer.

"Multitasking from their subordinates is required by managers who want to save money. But this can only have a positive effect in the short term, but in the long term it is a loss"

When the copywriting department was created at the Comunica integrated communications agency, there were much more requests for texts than employees could write (at that time it was important to "push"), recalls the director of the department, Daria Angelo.

Gradually, the department grew, but we continued to work at the same frantic pace, until I noticed that the quality of the texts began to decline. Creating great content takes not only professional skill, but also time. If the writer is pressed and constantly distracted from the current task, there is a high probability of an error. So now my employees can work from home, from the park, and from wherever it is convenient for them to do so. They have time to travel, to observe. The main thing is that the quality of the work performed is on top - this is our reputation.

Multitasking is for beginners

According to analysts at the 21st Century recruitment center, startup leaders are more likely to overload their employees than other employees, since it is often there that they need versatile people who can navigate in many areas at once. Igor Polonsky, founder and head of the Director's Version event agency, is convinced that multitasking employees are relevant only at the stage of business formation, but later the company may stop developing. The businessman was convinced of this on his own experience:

Initially, it seemed most effective to hire employees who do a little bit of everything so that during downtime they can be engaged in finding clients, and in the event of a project, focus on working with him, he explains. - However, over time, we abandoned the practice of multitasking in the direction of a narrow specialization of employees. It turned out that a person with strictly defined responsibilities can handle many more projects.

According to Polonsky, the results of abandoning multitasking were stunning: if about 10-12 projects were implemented in the first year, then the last "Director's Cut" completed more than 40 events. As the company developed, some narrow specializations were made even narrower, and a number of functions were divided into subfunctions. The company says that with each new vacancy, the expected functionality of the employee is getting narrower, and the list of requirements is getting shorter.

"If you build a system in which a separate person is responsible for each function, there is no place for a multitasking employee in it. For some time he can still work, but in the end he will lose to highly specialized colleagues who cope with each individual task more efficiently and faster"

The right decision

Gravion Group, which specializes in the implementation of investment projects in the construction industry, purposefully thinks and decides how to reduce the number of tasks and evenly distribute them among team members who focus on one project in order to complete it as quickly as possible. According to management estimates, a clear division of labor has increased business productivity by 30%.

For those who work in Moscow, multitasking and stress resistance are quite understandable requirements. Once we also wanted to live like this, but in the end we abandoned this model: the work turned out to be inefficient, and the result was mediocre, - comments Yuri Nemanezhin, managing partner of the group. - The so-called agile approach allows, firstly, to minimize the number of errors (and promptly respond if they occur) and optimally increase work efficiency; secondly, the level of stress for all employees is reduced, since the tasks, deadlines and implementation mechanisms are clear. You just have to do your job well.

The undoubted advantage of not multitasking is a painless change of any employee. The company is not vulnerable, as it is very easy to find a replacement for one of the functions, - says Svetlana Petrovicheva from the 21st century center.

"We observe a clear distribution of functions at McDonald's. Each employee does his job, and if he is involved at the checkout, he will not run to wash the floor, noticing that the guest has spilled Coca-Cola"

Management of any team is simplified, the expert argues, but warns that the transition of a company from multitasking to decentralization of functions is not always easy. Sometimes a company needs to break the old model in order to build a new one, but despite the gigantic effort, it's worth it.

In the transition from multitasking to narrow specializations, we were forced to completely change the composition of employees. Those who used to do everything turned out to be dissatisfied with the fact that some of their functions were intercepted. They perceived it as if someone else was doing their job and receiving a bonus instead of them, - says Igor Polonsky.

By the way, the interviewed entrepreneurs also dislike multitasking because it is difficult to assess the effectiveness of employees who work in this mode, and, accordingly, it is not easy to develop a system of motivation in the workforce:

When every employee in the company does everything at once, it is impossible to decide who does more and better, explains the founder of the Director's Cut agency. - But for highly specialized employees, it is much easier to define KPIs based on their compliance with the requirements for a particular function. This simplifies the bonus procedure and makes the motivation system more transparent. For example, the bonuses of our company's employees no longer depend solely on the company's turnover, as it used to be.

Oksana and Mikhail Smuschenko, heads of the trade and construction company Gelster, agree with the statement. According to them, if the company employs several "supermen" who perform similar functions, it is impossible to ask the result from anyone. By practicing a clear division of labor in their company, over the past two years they have been able to increase the number of positive reviews about the work of managers by 80% and reduce rejection to zero.

Dear bosses, do you really need more arguments?

The world overloads us with information and tasks so much that we have simply forgotten how to concentrate. We check social media hundreds of times a day. And we also have such tasks that other people used to solve. For example, now it is possible to independently book a plane ticket and a hotel room, without a cashier to buy goods in a store. There are many more tasks, and besides this, I want to be with my family, friends and do hobbies.

Multitasking is a myth

However, a large to-do list and the ability to multi-task are not as good as they seem. A person cannot multitask. For multitasking, we take the ability to quickly switch from one task to another. And each such switch requires considerable resources, increases stress and increases anxiety. Therefore, the less we switch and get distracted by extraneous things, the better.

But what if there are a lot of tasks and you need to somehow cope with it? How not to go crazy with a huge list of tasks and be efficient? Here are some tips.

Work in cycles

Business requires constant switching between tasks. If you have not yet learned to delegate and do everything yourself - from calls to the water delivery man to an interview, then by the evening you are probably squeezed like a lemon. To avoid unnecessary stress, work in cycles with a break in between.

The simplest cycling technique is the Pomodoro Technique. You concentrate as much as possible for some time at work and then make sure to take a short break. For example, 45 minutes of work and 15 minutes of rest. This principle of operation is effective for working with a large number of tasks, and with one large task.

Change your concentration mode

Our brain operates in two modes of attention: concentration mode and wandering mode. The concentration mode (central-executive mode) turns on when we are completely immersed in work. We pay maximum attention to work. In this mode, we work productively, but tensely. When we work at such speeds for a long time, we gradually get tired and our efficiency decreases.

To work productively for a long time, you need to periodically switch from the first to the second mode - the "wandering" mode (mind-wandering mode). We are in this mode when we read literature, articles, walk, admire art, meditate. The "wandering" mode allows you to "reboot" the brain and relax. Therefore, breaks are useful for improving work efficiency.

Make important decisions in the morning

It is better to make all important decisions in the morning, when your decision-making resource has not yet been depleted. Oddly enough, but we can really make a limited number of decisions per day. There is a certain threshold, and it doesn't matter whether we have a difficult choice or an easy one.

In one experiment, a group of people were asked to participate in a survey. Before the survey, they were specifically asked simple questions such as: how do you arrange the paper? Would you like a blue or black pen? What will you drink: tea or coffee? With or without sugar? With milk or lemon?

That is, they were forced to make decisions. And then they handed out sheets with a survey, where there were questions on important philosophical problems. People coped with the difficulty, because they already felt tired. The decision-making resource has been wasted.

Therefore, it is better to solve all important issues in the morning, while your head is fresh and you have not had time to spend the entire resource.

Free your head

Do not keep everything in your head, use the "expanders" of the brain - calendars, diaries, lists, notepads, applications.

Imagine that your concentration is the RAM on your computer. The more programs open on the computer at the same time, the slower it will work. If you are trying to keep something in your head instead of uploading it to another medium, then you are taking up the amount of memory you need. The more such information, the more difficult it is to concentrate on the current case.

Live "in the moment"

How often do you think about household chores and dinner while sitting at work, while at home you think about work? This happens all the time. During breakfast, people hold a plug in one hand and a phone in the other. They walk down the street with sullen concentrated faces, thinking hard about something. We stopped enjoying the present moment.

The Vietnamese monk Thit Nat Khan teaches to live here and now in his book "Peace in Every Step". If you want to learn how to live in the moment, you must read this book.