Today's Workplace Trend:

Did you know...that multitasking is great for gadgets like your computer or the iPhone 4, but it's not good for people? According to the Harvard Business Review (Peter Bregman), our brains actually just try to switch back and forth between tasks as quickly as possible, because in reality, they can only focus on one thing at a time.

On the flip side, there are some multitasks that work well--let's say, ironing while watching TV, or listening to music while exercising.  David Meyer from the University of Michigan reports that certain simple tasks are indeed amenable to multitasking.  But when you need to do something important, you really should focus your attention on one thing at a time.  In the workplace, most things and all people are important enough to eliminate multitasking in that environment.  Following are some other issues related to multitasking--plenty of data to make me want to take a different course of action!

Multitasking Cautions:
-  Your IQ goes down when you multitask.  I don't know about you, but I need my full brain and all its power to do my work!  Enough said.

 -  Multitasking negatively affects productivity. Harvard Business Review reports that productivity goes down by as much as 40% when we multitask!  That's because our brain is actually switching from one task to the other and losing momentum because it's always trying to re-group.
-  Multitasking is stressful. A University of Washington study has shown that multitasking adds stress to our environment.  Although we feel like we're doing a lot, our productivity is actually much less than it would be if we were focusing on one thing at a time.  So we feel like we're doing LOTS of work for little return.  And that's a stressor.  
-  Multitasking is bad for relationships. Dr. Ray Levy, a psychiatrist, reports that we negatively affect others when we multitask.  If you've been on the "wrong" side of a multitasking boss or parent, you'll know he's right.  He says that multitasking leads to hurt feelings and preceived rejection.  As an employer (or parent), those would be very counter-productive feelings to induce just because you want to read an email!
-  Multitasking actually takes more time. A University of California study has shown that it takes 25 minutes for our brains to recover from interruptions.  So, the next time you're working on an important paper or project and the phone rings or your email beeps, ask yourself if you have the extra 25 minutes it will take to get back into the groove on the task at hand. The study reports that this recovery time costs the U.S. Economy $650 Billion every year!  What could we do with that money?  

So, what do you do instead?
Here are some tips to avoid multitasking: