I can, in fact, do several things at once and do them well. It’s a combination of switch-tasking (at about 1-hour intervals) and background tasking.

I find that as long as I look at my to-do list each day and figure out each task’s first action, I’m good to go.

As a photographer, writer, and mixed media artist WITH a full-time, unrelated day job, this works well for me. I actually manage to be very productive.

The First Actions and paper to-do list are key, however.

I agree that one can take on too much at one time and that quick switch-tasking is probably not productive.

I can see how it damaging and exhausting for me though. When I’m working at home on my business, though I work hard, I dont feel the energy drain my day-job gives.

By the way, someone earlier in this thread mentioned 80/20 for project planning. 80/20 applies to selecting between unrelated projects – 20% will deliver 80% of the benefit. But this does not apply to the steps in a project! 80% of the projects benefit doesn’t come from completing 20% of the activities. If you don’t complete 100% of the project you probably won’t see any benefit.

Also, traditional project management approaches often end up with the last 10% of the project taking as much time as the first 90% because people put off the hardest 10% of activiteis until the end.

In case you’re interested in why this is the case – 80/20 is a statistics thing and it only applies to independent events. The steps in a project are not independent, but are dependent series of links. To use the chain analogy, 80% of the strength doesn’t come from 20% of the links. In fact, the strength depends on the weakest link.

That’s why traditional pen and paper is so good for my writing: it forces me to do just one thing, and that’s writing. Or at least thinking about writing.

Most of the time I am aware when I am multitasking and can pull myself away, other times, I do get swept away.

As my mother says, “Focus, baby, don’t scatter your energy.”

Thanks for providing the facts to support what I know to be true, multitasking makes you more productive – is truly a myth.

Philip Lilly

I have read the book and tried to put much of it in practice. Although I still struggle at times, I think David Allen’s concepts are true. Whenever I do make the lists and do the mindsweep, etc, I find my self much more relaxed and on top of things.

I highly recommend it to everyone and have given it away as gifts.

I have recently decided to buckle down and focus on 1 or two things at max,and I have been way more productive when I have done that. Thanks for reaffirming me.

If something doesn’t require your brain’s attention, then you can potentially do two things at once. But I think we’ve all heard the jokes about the mother who puts the cantaloupe in the diaper and the baby in the fridge…

I too am shocked that people have so many tabs open. I thought I was bad with 3 different browsers and maybe 10 – 15 tabs open at the same time.

Then begins the huge battle with the desktop machine…

I think there is value in breaking down jobs into small enough chunks that one task serves many purposes. Think of it in cooking terms: if you have three recipes needing chopped onions, isn’t it more efficient to chop the onions all at once and only wash the cutting board and knife once? But perhaps that microtasking is the opposite of multitasking?

My husband is one of few people who can truly multi-task, probably because he has outrageously bad ADD. He was on Ritalin before most people had even heard of it. He frequently watches TV and listens to the radio at the same time.

The part that’s no fun for me is when he’s doing three things and I yell at him for not listening to me, and he rattles back what I said word for word. :p

I have found in my work that this stereotype, I’m afraid, does often fit.

However, I do also think the types of brain we have has an effect. My son for example is a good multi-tasker, so its not all male/female brain. He is also 19 and a digital native. Maybe that too has a lot to do with it.

I prefer to have a lot of things open and go in and out of tasks, reading and completing the easy ones as I go along. I like the random interruption of a new find on the web, or in a magazine/book interrupting this process and if it attracts my attention, I leave it open and go back to it. For head down tasks, if I have the scope in my schedule, I choose a day, morning or afternoon to concentrate on it, but when I tire after finishing a chapter/section etc, I like to break from it with the noise of other things, then go back refreshed.

That approach used to drive a particularly limited ‘do one thing at a time’ male boss mad. However I’m good at what I do and get results that couldn’t be argued with. He learned a lot!

I am a divorced woman and raised two children on my own. Needs must when the devil drives.

does this mean I need a new computer, or I better not get a new computer or it will ruin my productivity?

Plus, I find that it’s a lot more efficient to group similar tasks together. For example, I run all my analyses first, and when I’m done with everything, I gather all the data to enter in the computer all at once.

I can do certain things — like orchestrate the preparation of several dishes for a meal — very well and that requires multitasking.

I can also multitask well with something like juggling laundry/household chores.

I CANNOT handle multitasking when driving. Nor can I multitask if I’m trying to write. Both of these require my full attention.

I also cannot handle the complexities of my job particularly well, although it also demands I multitask a lot. I need to focus a lot of attention on what I’m doing — troubleshooting systems and code.

My mind enjoys being very active; when I only have one thing to focus on, I get bored with that and start thinking about all sorts of other things. Maybe I just work best under some sort of self-imposed pressure, but I’ve always enjoyed multitasking – or switchtasking, as it were – in school and in each job I’ve had.

Switchtasking: Focusing on multiple tasks that require effort or attention
Background tasking: Focusing on on tasks while something mindless or mundane occurs in the background.
You’re right: background tasking can actually be very efficient.
However, what most people are referring to when they talk about multitasking is switchtasking.

Karawynn: There is nothing disingenuous about the test…just poor programming. We’ll work on fixing that.

Also, did you try the offline version, as well? The results are the same.