When is the last time you did one thing. Only one thing. You just washed the dishes, or had a long dinner with a friend (without checking your phone), or read an entire blog post (without skimming it)? We are all distracted. The world has become full of distractions and therefore, the temptation to multitask beckons. At work people have multiple tabs up in their browser, or even multiple screens. Check a email here. Flick on over the Facebook there. Feel a buzz from your phone (or think that you do), so you check that too. It’s interesting that we live in a time where multitasking is a given and we are bombarded by distractions, while at the same time there is a deep cultural thirst for focus and concentration. Maybe this is the backlash against Social Media and increasing claims on our free time from employers (always available, always ‘on call’). Minimalism, Simple Living, Down-Sizing, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. These things hold our attention and our aspirations, why? The simple reason is this: your brain hates multitasking. Here’s why: Use It Or Lose It- Your ‘Focus Muscle’ Your brain can do this amazing trick: while constantly taking in stimuli from the outside world, it can also exercise a specific neural circuit that allows you to focus on one thing at a time. This ‘focus circuit’, like every circuit in your brain, acts like a muscle in that the more you use it, the stronger it gets. Conversely, if you don’t use it, it gets weak and it becomes harder and harder to focus when you need to. Focus Leads to Calm, Clear Thinking When I work with clients who could use more calm, more peace, and more groundedness in their lives, this is exactly where I go. Your ability to focus is your path to being calm and to clear thinking. When you are trying to calm your mind, work out a difficult problem, or communicate clearly you need to focus on what you are doing. Being distracted leads to racing thoughts and difficulty being really heard and seen by others. Multitasking Isn’t Really a Thing Anyway We think of multitasking as doing two task simultaneously-like answering emails and working on a spreadsheet. Although we think of it this way, our brain actually can’t do two cognitive tasks (thinking tasks) at once. We can walk and chew gum at the same time, but we can’t compose an email while doing a math problem. What is actually happening is that your brain with switching between two tasks very quickly. You are asking it to attend to one thing, then another, then back to the first, etc. It’s like a ping-pong game. Anything Left Unfinished Becomes a Distraction The thing about switch between two tasks is it leads to something called ‘attention residue’ in your brain. Whenever a task is left unfinished, your brain keeps thinking about it, even when you want to focus on something else. For example, if I open an email and read it, but make a split decision to open a new tab and check out Facebook instead. Although I’m trying to focus on my Facebook feed, there is a little part of my brain that is thinking about that email and trying to compose a response. A researcher from the University of Minnesota puts it this way: “People need to stop thinking about one task in order to fully transition their attention and perform well on another. Yet, results indicate it is difficult for people to transition their attention away from an unfinished task, and their subsequent task performance suffers.” In fact, research shows that multitasking can lead to a 40 percent decline in productivity. How to Stop Multitasking and Start Single-Tasking To stop the ping-pong game in your brain and strengthen you focus muscle, you need to stop multitasking and get comfortable again focusing on one task at a time. Here are some idea to limit distractions and do some deep work: Turn off your phone (yes, really) Turn off all the notification from Apps on your phone Give yourself permission to focus on one thing, remind yourself that you will be more productive if you do Batch some work tasks together (for example, set aside an hour at the end of the workday to read and respond to email, don’t check it every ten minutes throughout the day) Practice Mindfulness. Mindfulness is the practice of deeply being aware of the world and observing without judgement Consider putting an auto-away message on your email or phone for scheduled times you would like to do deep concentrated work, or when you want to set aside time for family or recreation. Let go of the instant gratification that multitasking can give, and instead cultivate a pleasure in tackling a difficult task