The Myth of Multitasking by Dave Crenshaw

Author:Dave Crenshaw
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wiley
Published: 2010-06-16T04:00:00+00:00

Multitasking? I can’t even do two things at once. I can’t even do one thing at once.

—Helena Bonham Carter

Helen laughed. “This is great! Thank you!”

“You’re welcome.”

After a pause, Helen continued, “So what about phone calls? If you remember, that was a big cause for me to switchtask.”

Phil looked at his watch, then picked up his mobile phone, and began dialing a number. “I ’m calling a client of mine right now.” Phil switched his cell phone to speakerphone.

“Listen.”

After the fourth ring, a pleasant, professional male voice began speaking:

“Hello, this is James. You’ve reached my voice mail, which means I’m probably meeting with a customer right now. I do check my messages frequently, usually at 10:00 A.M., 2:00 P.M., and 4:00 P.M. If you leave a message, I will be sure to get back to you before the day is over. Thank you!”

Phil hung up the phone.

Helen exclaimed, “Wow! Does he really do that? Return calls at those times? And his customers are okay with that?”

Phil clasped his hands together and nodded with a smile. “He follows that schedule every day like a finely tuned clock. In the beginning, it took his coworkers and customers by surprise, particularly because he used to be a complete mess.”

“Not as bad as me,” Helen grunted.

“Worse, actually,” Phil said bluntly. “He was in constant firefighting mode, jumping from call to call, from interruption to interruption. He was a poster child for switchtasking.”

Helen sat in stunned silence.

“Yet now those same coworkers and customers have much more respect for him. They have come to rely on him as dependable. He returns every call in a timely manner. He just doesn’t try to return them all at the same time, or in the middle of a meeting, or while answering e-mail.

“The key for him—and for you, Helen—is that he uses his calendar to determine in advance when he is going to deal with the interruptions to his day.”

“He doesn’t switchtask,” Helen quietly added.

Phil nodded. “There is an illusion that so many people buy into,” Phil continued. “The illusion is that technology, cell phones, e-mail, faxes, text messaging, and whatever is latest-and-greatest all make us more productive.

“The reality, though, is that these things will make us productive only if we learn to take control of them. They are the servants. We are the masters. If you and I don’t set up a schedule and protect our time, we allow ourselves to be run over by the traffic of information.”

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