Work Smart, Not Hard: The Power of Monotasking

Students do it: study and chat. Moms do it: talk to kids, cook, check emails. Drivers do it: talk and/or text and drive. Dads do it: read, talk, and watch TV. It’s gone viral. It has a catchy name: multitasking – as well as two compelling messages: 1) avoid laziness; 2) do two things at once and save time! It combines hard work and “have to’s” into a duo that parties hardy. It does, however, have a morning after price – stress, mediocre performance, and unhappiness.

Multitasking sounds so good, but there’s no fooling the brain. It simply can’t talk, listen, think, and/or write two things at once, no matter how much you insist it can. Try it: say two words – like lazy and done – at once. You can say them in either order, just not at the same time. Like driving powerful race cars, you can switch vehicles, but you can’t drive more than one at a time. And every switch eats up restart time – definitely not a winning strategy!

For a winner’s strategy, watch a child play with his favorite toy, pick one stuffed animal to take to grandma’s, eat an ice cream cone, or listen to the answer to a question. You’ll witness single-minded, engaged, energetic focus. No laziness there! It’s called monotasking.

At its heart, monotasking puts laziness to good use. It’s cultivated by engineers, computer programmers, and innovators alike. It seeks efficiency and that’s how we got the bicycle, car, computers, and machine aids of every kind. It’s also how we learn, create, and relate deeply. It comes from a lazy desire to work smart and live fully now.