In my previous posts, I wrote about the importance of discipline and establishing routines when it comes to writing a PhD thesis. So today, I wanted to write about the evil that is multi-tasking.
Study after study has shown that multitasking doesn't work. And I'm talking about doing difficult cognitive tasks at the same time. Of course there are other tasks that you can do simultaneously, like listening to a podcast and chopping veggies. Unfortunately though, you can't listen to a podcast while writing a subchapter of your thesis, and you also can't chop veggies while writing said subchapter.
Trying to multitask takes a serious toll on productivity. Our brains lack the ability to perform multiple tasks at the same time. When we think we're multitasking, we're just switching quickly from task to task without noticing it.
I'd like to think that this is common knowledge by now, but apparently it is not. Many of us believe we are exceptions and these studies don't really apply to our lives. So before you dismiss this post, let me just invite you to try focusing on one task a time. When I tried it, I found that 3 hours of intensive deep work on a task gave the same results as 8 hours of distracted multitasking. Perhaps, this isn't the same for everyone but you could always give it a try. I also found out that distracted work exhausts me.
Focusing on a single task has proven time and time again to be much more effective. And believe, it's the only way I managed to speed up my writing.
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