1 00:00:04,559 --> 00:00:07,160 Speaker 1: Welcome to How I Work, a show about the tactics 2 00:00:07,280 --> 00:00:09,680 Speaker 1: used by leading innovators to get so much out of 3 00:00:09,720 --> 00:00:12,960 Speaker 1: their day. I'm your host, doctor Amantha Imba. I'm an 4 00:00:13,039 --> 00:00:17,040 Speaker 1: organizational psychologist, the CEO of Inventium, and I'm obsessed with 5 00:00:17,120 --> 00:00:21,280 Speaker 1: finding ways to optimize my workday. Today's show is another 6 00:00:21,360 --> 00:00:25,160 Speaker 1: mini episode where I share some interesting research about how 7 00:00:25,200 --> 00:00:27,440 Speaker 1: you might be able to improve the way you work. 8 00:00:28,560 --> 00:00:32,000 Speaker 1: So several years ago, I did a work styles test 9 00:00:32,159 --> 00:00:35,000 Speaker 1: and it revealed that one of my strongest skills was 10 00:00:35,040 --> 00:00:40,280 Speaker 1: being a time optimizer. I wore this title like a badge, 11 00:00:40,479 --> 00:00:44,000 Speaker 1: and for the following year it defined the way I worked. 12 00:00:44,800 --> 00:00:48,000 Speaker 1: I would frequently switch tasks. For example, when I was 13 00:00:48,040 --> 00:00:51,880 Speaker 1: working with suboptimal Internet, if the page I needed was 14 00:00:51,920 --> 00:00:54,959 Speaker 1: taking more than a second to load, I would optimize 15 00:00:55,000 --> 00:00:57,880 Speaker 1: my time by changing tasks so I wouldn't waste five 16 00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:02,120 Speaker 1: or ten valuable page loading sets. I would then switch 17 00:01:02,160 --> 00:01:04,560 Speaker 1: back thirty seconds later once I was sure the page 18 00:01:04,600 --> 00:01:09,360 Speaker 1: would have loaded up. Efficiency was my middle name. At 19 00:01:09,400 --> 00:01:13,119 Speaker 1: the same time in my life, I worked very long hours. 20 00:01:13,480 --> 00:01:16,960 Speaker 1: I'd often arrive at the office before eight am, and 21 00:01:17,000 --> 00:01:19,920 Speaker 1: while i'd leave by six pm, i'd log straight back 22 00:01:19,959 --> 00:01:24,520 Speaker 1: onto my laptop. Almost every evening there always seemed to 23 00:01:24,560 --> 00:01:29,720 Speaker 1: be tasks left to finish. However, over the same time period, 24 00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:31,880 Speaker 1: I would often get to the end of a day 25 00:01:32,040 --> 00:01:35,160 Speaker 1: and think to myself, what have I actually achieved today? 26 00:01:36,120 --> 00:01:39,280 Speaker 1: A lot of days felt like this hurricane of tasks, 27 00:01:39,680 --> 00:01:44,040 Speaker 1: but with a lack of meaningful progress on projects that mattered, 28 00:01:45,200 --> 00:01:50,640 Speaker 1: and basically I knew something had to change now. David Meyer, 29 00:01:51,080 --> 00:01:54,640 Speaker 1: a psychology professor from the University of Michigan, argues that 30 00:01:54,760 --> 00:02:00,480 Speaker 1: multitasking actually makes us less productive, not more. To start with, 31 00:02:00,840 --> 00:02:05,040 Speaker 1: the term multitasking is actually misleading and implies that we're 32 00:02:05,080 --> 00:02:09,200 Speaker 1: doing two tasks in parallel. But the reality is that 33 00:02:09,240 --> 00:02:13,160 Speaker 1: our brain is unable to pay conscious attention to two 34 00:02:13,240 --> 00:02:17,040 Speaker 1: things at the one time, like, for example, try thinking 35 00:02:17,080 --> 00:02:20,480 Speaker 1: of a pink elephant and adding up sixteen plus thirty two. 36 00:02:21,120 --> 00:02:25,800 Speaker 1: It's literally impossible. A more accurate name for multitasking is 37 00:02:25,880 --> 00:02:30,320 Speaker 1: task switching. Maya describes that two things have to happen 38 00:02:30,400 --> 00:02:34,079 Speaker 1: every time you switch tasks. The first thing is that 39 00:02:34,240 --> 00:02:38,480 Speaker 1: goal activation needs to happen. Your brain says to itself, 40 00:02:38,720 --> 00:02:41,959 Speaker 1: I'm going to stop focusing on this task and instead 41 00:02:42,200 --> 00:02:45,840 Speaker 1: focus on that task. And then the second step is 42 00:02:46,040 --> 00:02:50,200 Speaker 1: rule activation. This is your brain shutting down the rules 43 00:02:50,200 --> 00:02:53,320 Speaker 1: for the task that you're currently completing and opening up 44 00:02:53,360 --> 00:02:55,800 Speaker 1: the rules for the task that you're about to switch to. 45 00:02:57,120 --> 00:03:02,040 Speaker 1: In research conducted into task switching, Maya and University of 46 00:03:02,080 --> 00:03:06,320 Speaker 1: Michigan colleague Jeffrey Evans and Joshua Rubinston from the Federal 47 00:03:06,360 --> 00:03:09,800 Speaker 1: Aviation Administration and covered a big reason as to why 48 00:03:09,840 --> 00:03:13,640 Speaker 1: you might want to stop multitasking. They discovered that the 49 00:03:13,720 --> 00:03:18,440 Speaker 1: simple act of constantly switching tasks costs us up to 50 00:03:18,680 --> 00:03:23,600 Speaker 1: forty percent of time. Now, to extrapolate that into a 51 00:03:23,639 --> 00:03:26,400 Speaker 1: typical work day, if you happen to be a rampant 52 00:03:26,520 --> 00:03:31,399 Speaker 1: multitasker like I was, you are unnecessarily expanding your work day. 53 00:03:32,120 --> 00:03:34,200 Speaker 1: And if you only work an eight hour day, the 54 00:03:34,200 --> 00:03:36,680 Speaker 1: bottom line is that if you start focusing on one 55 00:03:36,760 --> 00:03:39,440 Speaker 1: task at the one time, you could leave work at 56 00:03:39,480 --> 00:03:42,520 Speaker 1: around two thirty pm instead of five pm and achieve 57 00:03:42,600 --> 00:03:46,720 Speaker 1: the exact same level of output. So, if you would 58 00:03:46,760 --> 00:03:49,040 Speaker 1: like to start working a day that is a little 59 00:03:49,080 --> 00:03:53,240 Speaker 1: over five hours rather than eight hours, simply focus on 60 00:03:53,240 --> 00:03:57,320 Speaker 1: one thing at the one time. Hey, there, that's it 61 00:03:57,400 --> 00:03:59,680 Speaker 1: for today's episode. If you liked it. They are a 62 00:03:59,720 --> 00:04:02,320 Speaker 1: plea of others that you might also enjoy, such as 63 00:04:02,360 --> 00:04:05,119 Speaker 1: my chat with Matt Mullenwig, co founder of WordPress, where 64 00:04:05,160 --> 00:04:07,960 Speaker 1: we talk about how he organizes his phone to create 65 00:04:08,040 --> 00:04:11,160 Speaker 1: healthy habits, and my conversation with Adam Grant, where we 66 00:04:11,200 --> 00:04:13,120 Speaker 1: talk about the two things he does at the start 67 00:04:13,160 --> 00:04:15,360 Speaker 1: of every week to make sure he stays on track 68 00:04:15,400 --> 00:04:19,360 Speaker 1: with what really matters. Finally, it's great getting feedback from 69 00:04:19,400 --> 00:04:22,160 Speaker 1: listeners such as yourself, so feel free to give this 70 00:04:22,200 --> 00:04:24,599 Speaker 1: podcast a review in iTunes or wherever you listen to 71 00:04:24,600 --> 00:04:27,240 Speaker 1: your podcasts, And if you like this episode, make sure 72 00:04:27,279 --> 00:04:29,520 Speaker 1: you hit the subscribe button so you can be alerted 73 00:04:29,560 --> 00:04:32,200 Speaker 1: when new episodes are released. See you next time.