Why Single tasking is beneficial to our brain?

In a society where the emphasis is always on doing multiple things at a time, it becomes extremely difficult to let others know that we are doing single tasking instead of multi.

Multitasking usually comprises of the following three things:

-> Doing two or more tasks simultaneously

-> Switching back and forth from different tasks

-> Doing number of tasks in rapid succession

While these are absolutely fine to masses, multitasking is actually a disadvantage. To be very precise, it is possible to do “multi-project”, i.e. working on multiple projects but tasking up their tasks one at a time.

This article is part of the Single tasking vs multitasking series. Do read the previous article before proceeding furthur.

Some of us would still have doubts on single tasking and that’s okay. We are going to break down why single tasking is a much better approach to our personal and professional lives.

Before we dig deeper into the benefits, let’s look at the following video to understand this better.

Improves Productivity

Unfortunately, human brain is not designed to do multitasking. A lot of studies have shown up facts and performance benefits of doing one thing at a time. According to research from Harvard, Stanford and the University of London, it has been proven that we are losing as much as 40% of our productivity due to multitasking.

Conserve Energy

We might not know but our brain consume more energy than any other part of our body. When we do multitasking, our brain needs to constantly shift its focus from one to another and thus spend a lot of energy in doing this. However, in single tasking, we only focus on one thing at a time and thus allow brain to conserve more energy for rest of the things. This also keeps our brain active and our energy levels up.

Increases Commitment

Being committed to anything these days is a real problem. People are used to so many distractions that they simply cannot commit themselves completely to anything. However, when you do single tasking, you not only devote your time to that task but also increases the likelihood of being committed to others tasks when their turn comes up.

Promote Self Discipline

One of the best ways to build self control is by doing one thing at a time. Because you are telling your mind to only do single tasking, thus you will be more aligned to the work you do. Self-control is the sibling of self-discipline.

No (or) Less Distractions

It is easy to spot people who are being distracted, if we pay attention. We might have seen people texting while driving on the highway and so on. These are some of those distractions which people just cannot avoid, and are typically slaves. When we practice single tasking, we are no longer slaves of their behavior, because we get the ability to learn the art of refusing distractions internally or externally.

Improves Attention

Human brain can anyways not concentrate on certain things for a longer period of time. According to the research, human brain currently has an average attention of just eight seconds. However, with single tasking, we are telling the brain to only concentrate on one thing and thus improves our attention span.

Being More Happy

In today’s culture, we are expected to be busy all the time. Whether you look at people around you or somewhere else, they all are busy with distractions and doing multiple things. By applying single tasking, you are getting one step closer to being more happy. Because you have only one task to do at a time, therefore you are willing to devote your time towards it and enjoy rest of the time to be more happy.

Improves Communication

This is a fact that we are not able to concentrate most of the time during conversations and we mentally disappear somewhere else. This is a universal problem. However, with single tasking we are giving our full attention to another person. And thus, we are giving more respect and provide thoughtful ideas to the other person. All of these are some of the attributes to be a good communicator.

Improves Relationships

Many a time we are so busy doing lot of things together that we just miss out on some important things. Ever noticed your friends checking out their phone when you are telling them something important or your partner not noticing your conversations and so on. If we could do one thing at a time, then we would not only give ample time to other person but would also enjoy our relationship with other people.

Addon Advantage

Finally, single-tasking is a huge advantage. Not just professionally, but also personally, spiritually and everywhere else also. Single tasking is one of those skills which impacts you positively in everything you do in your daily life.

P.S. Still wondering what single tasking can do for you? Try out and you would know yourself how can it help you.