Audio Download

Note: This week's lesson requires video for the first 4 minutes. The rest may be listened to on a walk or run.

How to stay on task

In this lesson we discover that your brain can only handle one task at a time. Multitasking is a myth. If you think you are multitasking, what you are really doing is task switching, and there’s robust psychological research that shows that task switching results in more errors, slower responses, and decreased productivity. There up to 40% loss when you multitask or frequently switch tasks.

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For Discussion

One of the strategies I shared was bunching the little things. What little things could you bunch together? I bunch email, phone calls, and texts into a communications hour each day. I bunch opening mail and paying bills to a single burst on the weekend.

What other little things can be bunched in a way that helps you avoid time confetti? Share your wisdom with us!

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For Experimentation

Your challenge this week is to create a focus block on your calendar. This is easier said than done. I was working with a client this week who wanted a 4 hour focus block every morning so that she could finally find uninterrupted time for a brain intensive project. To create it, she had to gain the support of her husband, have a family meeting with the kids, and talk to a colleague at work about her new early start, early end work schedule. What focus block would you love to create and what would it take to create it for yourself? 

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Going Further 

Are you like me and just love to geek out on neuroscience? Then read this article by Madore and Wagner, two professors from my alma mater, Stanford University, who beautifully explain the different brain networks used to focus on a task, and how media multitasking (watching Netflix while checking email and responding to text messages) impact performance.

Want to improve your executive function even more? Watch this fantastic TED talk by Sabine Doebel who shows you how to use other people and your environmental context to stay focused.