Edmonton Business Coach | The Myth of Multitasking
Hi everyone. Welcome back to the Edmonton business coach, Inspired Method YouTube channel. My name is Trevor. This is my wife Karen, and today we’ll be talking about the myth of multitasking. So Gary Keller would be author of the one thing he says that we know that multitasking can even be fatal when lives are at stake.
In fact, we fully expect pilots and the surgeon is to focus on their jobs to the exclusion of everything else and we expect that anyone in their position who gets caught doing otherwise, we’ll always be taking severely to task.
We except nor do we want to have no tolerance for anything but total concentration from those professionals. And yet here, the rest of us are living another standard. Hmm, very good. So a recent study in Germany recorded timespan on smart phones via an application and found that about two and a half hours per day are lost to smart phone use. In total, this equates to almost one day a week is wasted to smartphones. Anyway. Well, we’ve all heard those people who claim that they are amazing multitaskers. I just kind of laugh when I hear and they get so much done.
I know all about the myth of multitasking. I kind of realized that when really they are just doing a number of things badly. Actually give a good example of this. Uh, we used to do a lot of singing and we saw a lot of people performing and we, I found that uh, the leader would sing and he would play an instrument and you know what, unless you’re really making it one voice, so not multitasking, you’re not doing two things is one thing.
They both suffer. The singing is not that great and the playing’s not that great. It’s just not where it could be when it’s two things going on at once.
That’s a classic example from the musical worlds. Yeah. I think it actually applies very well to this situation, Edmonton business coach. Definitely. Yeah. So Karen, are you asking a few questions and we’ll, we’ll go back and forth and see how things go. So are people that think they are really good at multi tasking actually any good at it at all?
They’re not. They’re just bragging. I think it’s like this, you know, badge of honor that I can do so many things at once, but in fact, like I just explained, they’re just doing lots of things mediocre. Yeah. It’s not great where they’re burning the cookies. Yeah. Free Time. Cause I go off and do something on that. So we’re not talking about me are we? No.
So do most of all small business owners try to multitask?
I think they do, especially in the beginning because they’re just trying to learn things and grow and lots of things are coming at them from all different directions. It could be customer service, it could be systems that they need to address. It could be, um, just all the ins and outs as a business, the technical to the human resources side. And they’re just trying to put fires out so that they can stay on top and the house of trying to make money to stay in business. So yeah, they, they get burned out that way.
Not, they don’t do as good of a job, I guess. Trying to spin a bunch of plates and keep everything up in the air. And it’s true. I mean, sometimes you have to multitask when you’re just starting and you don’t have a team built up, but the Edmonton business coach goal is to have a team.
Yeah. So that you, you don’t, you don’t have to multitask because none of us are super good at, um, so Karen, what would happen if you interrupted Jeff Bezos, Warren Buffett or any successful entrepreneur at their job, they are definitely get upset if they’re in the middle of something big. They could lose their flow.
That just think about when you’re trying to be creative, when you are creative and you’re getting in that Edmonton business coach flow and then you’re interrupted, that flow stops. I think about me as a parent and it’s, or as a teacher in the classroom, this was the exact thing that I went through all the time.
I’m just getting into the Edmonton business coach flow and then all of a sudden someone comes and interrupts me. My thoughts are disrupted, the pattern has changed. I’m thinking about something else and it takes so much more momentum to get back and going again with whatever it was, those hope, like hoping to get done or just being creative in. It’s very frustrating. Yeah, definitely. It happens all the time. So yeah, you were interrupting a very successful entrepreneur during their day.
You punted to me, you’re fired. You’re right, right. Yeah. So if multitasking is the sign of a real top Edmonton business coach producer, how would you feel if your surgeon was multitasking? Yeah.
Oh, I would not feel very good about that. That would make me more, that could cause a lot of problems for one thing. Um, I would feel uncomfortable and very risky and it just wouldn’t be efficient or safe.
No. In that situation, either a text answering texts or recruit, responding to an email or, or anything else while they’re doing surgery, completely blocks the flow. Totally inappropriate. That’s completely inappropriate. So it’s no different for you as a business owner, you should be able to do focused work and get your stuff done, um, in a regular, Edmonton business coach fashion. Not always be, you know, distracted here, there and everywhere.
And being distracted by your smartphone. So a notification pops up, somebody sends you a funny meme or a gif or something that’s funny, or an email gif, the debate. So, um, as you as an Edmonton business coach entrepreneur need to understand that and you need to have focus time and your ability to do your focus and work and collaborate afterwards but not always be by the phone or email or phone calls or other things. Right. Yeah. So question is, um, what are the consequences of the multitasking?
Well, we kind of already said some of them, but I’m definitely leaves. You lose the flow of what you’re doing. You’re in, you’re interrupted, your thoughts, your productivity. Productivity is one that’s pretty much it right there. The things that you’re getting done and all of a sudden it stops when it could just keep flowing and building on that momentum and momentum drops and you feel like you have to kind of start over sometimes and your Edmonton business coach mind has to get refocused and it just, the time wasted.
That’s the bait. Another thing at that time wasted is not great.
Yeah, exactly. So it really, it reduces the amount of things you can get done in a day. Um, so, uh, what kinds of activities can you coupled together that looks like multitasking but really isn’t, I liked this one because there are times when you can do two things at once, but usually it’s because one is using your brain power and the other is just kind of almost like a white noise or background noise kind of keeping you motivated.
So maybe you’re going for a run. You could have your, you could have music on, you could have an Edmonton business coach podcast going. That’s a type of kind of like a multitasking thing that’s the productive. Also maybe you’re driving, it could be listening to an Edmonton business coach audio book. You obviously can’t read it, get some, that’s not a good multitasking activity, but you can listen to it. Um, I don’t know. Maybe you can think of some other ones.
Yeah, no, those two are great examples of things that you can do together that are really a distraction but can help you. Like what I do, I try and listen to an Edmonton business coach podcast on my way. It work so that I can learning something and it gives me maybe some motivation and some direction for the day and just reminds me of, you know, yeah. Was it can help me solve the problem.
Sometimes you usually I’ll listen to it and it’ll help you solve a problem or get my mind thinking, you know, towards my business more as opposed to what’s happening in traffic. So that is true. You know, a lot of times we can drive almost on automatic pilot. Of course we’re paying attention and we’re pretty remarkable creatures. But I like to try and listen and learn like an Edmonton business coach as I’m driving, doing something mundane like that.
Yeah. Like if you’re going on a trip and you’re in the airplane where you have to wait somewhere in an area, you can do two things at once, but they really can’t be on the same level. They can be conflicting and some.
All right. So, uh, the next question is, is it okay to let calls go to voicemail at certain times?
I totally believe that it is okay. Because sometimes you’re not ready to talk to whoever it is that’s calling you and you know what? If it’s really important, they’ll leave a message. We all have message systems, they can get up all of us in so many places and they will if it’s important, I think it’s okay, especially if it’s people that you’re in contact with a lot. You can just let it go to voicemail.
And that could be also text messages and messenger as well. You don’t need to always be answering those things right away and can you very demotivating and get you off task when you jumped every beck and call. It has to work for you, has respect your boundaries and time. So it’s okay to ignore a call as an Edmonton business coach if you need it.
Exactly. So what is the correlation between interruptions and happiness?
Oh, that’s a big one. If you’re interrupted too much, it’s, it’s definitely gonna lead to unhappiness and unsatisfying feelings because you just kind of get as much done or you don’t feel like you’re accomplishing what you want to let yourself down more than anything. Then if you would just stay focused, get some stuff done and maybe then it’s even when you’re feeding your soul, like you could be doing something for yourself.
I mean you’re being interrupted all the time. It doesn’t feel good. It feels, um, it just leads that negative feeling and you end up resenting people. Like it could be your kids, like you have to put some boundaries. Um, and of course it can be in the workspace, your relationships there. Um, it just doesn’t lead to happiness. Frustration, yeah, and resenting. Definitely. So last question is:
What can you do to minimize interruptions?
One thing we do here at the office that’s actually effective, it might sound rigid and strict, but it’s actually very effective. And our Edmonton business coach mornings are spent in solitary kind of time and space and like there’s not a lot of noise going on and let’s just to lunch so that people are working on their own and when they have questions for someone else, they just write them down and batch them for later.
So that when it’s tied to collaborate, which is in the afternoons, that’s when you do all that collaboration. And it just leads to higher productivity and less waste of time. And I think more just happy, happier employees, even though it might sound like it might not lead to that. Uh, I think overall it just affects the whole atmosphere.
Yeah. So it helps to have that focused work time in the morning, no interruptions. Yeah. So you can get your stuff done and then any in the afternoon you can work together with other people and collaborate and do all the, all the other things that are necessary. So thanks so much for joining us today.
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