Multitask while reading this email, I dare you
Wrote today’s piece from Barcelona and I swear, if you’re ever stuck in a rut, take a day (or more) off and travel somewhere. It does wonders.
Now that you all hate me, here’s today exercise that you can also hate:
David sat down on a chair at a famous eccentric restaurant in Vietnam. The moment people saw David, they dropped their forks and started running. Why?
Answer, as usual, at the end of this email.
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Look, mom, I’m multitasking
We’re living in the glory days of multitasking. Because of multiple screens and technology, you can now listen to a podcast while reading an email, chatting with a friend and working out on a Peloton.
It’s become so prevalent in some shape and form that you get crucified for not doing 5 things at the same time.
We feel empowered because of this. Centuries ago, people who multitasked were usually barely making ends meet or straight up slaves. Today, they’re go-getters.
However, multitasking is making us dumber. There’s plenty of studies on the topic that show how performing multiple tasks at once has a negative impact on your overall cognitive ability.
It suddenly makes sense why high performing individuals often hire assistants or find solutions that help with repetitive tasks. They value not only time, but their mental focus.
Being able to put your energy and focus in a single subject (that has a high yield) will often produce better results than doing 10 smaller tasks at once.
So what if we’d stop glorifying multitasking and treated subjects superficially?
Maybe we’d have more time for the things that matter and we would have an attention span longer than a goldfish (if you’re familiar with the original quote, it’s actually not true & just a very successful piece of marketing).
Answer: David was a snake that instead of being served, got away from his cage and ended up in the dining hall.