Switching Cost: The Myth of Multitasking - YouTube

In this video I’m gonna tell you why you should stop multitasking right now, especially

if you want to increase your productivity, and want to get more things done.

Multitasking is the biggest hindrance to your productivity.

Let me debunk its myth.

In fact it is this very realisation that will help you become super productive in study,

at work, and everything else.

All successful leaders, entrepreneurs, and managers know this very well.

They know how bad…just how bad multitasking can really be.

But they also know what they have to do to get more work done.

And it is this very simple method that we are going to discuss today, so make sure you

watch this video till the end.

Hello and welcome to Coffee&Junk!

I’m your host Abhishek.

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You would be surprised to know that the word priority didn't always mean what it does today.

It came into the English language in the 1400s, but it was always singular.

There was only “priority”.

No “priorities”.

It meant the very first or prior thing.

And it remained singular for the next five hundred years.

Only in the 1900s did we pluralise the term, and started talking about “priorities”.

We thought that by changing the word itself we could bend reality.

We thought that somehow now we’ll be able to have multiple “first” things.

How funny is that!

Yes, we are capable of doing two things at the same time.

We can, for example, to watch TV while cooking, or maybe, answer an email while talking on

the phone.

However, you cannot concentrate on both the tasks at once.

When you are doing more than one thing at a time, you aren’t really doing them simultaneously.

Multitasking is actually forcing your brain to switch back and forth very quickly from

one task to another.

Now, this wouldn't be a big deal if the human brain could transition seamlessly from one

job to the next, but unfortunately it cannot.

Multitasking forces you to pay a mental price each time you switch from one task to the

next.

In psychology terms, this mental price is called the “Switching Cost”.

Switching cost is the disruption that we experience when we switch our attention from one task

to the next.

A study found that it takes about 64 seconds to resume you task after glancing at a notification

on your phone.

64 seconds for looking at your phone for, I dunno, a microsecond.

Which means that you are wasting one out of every six minutes.

And 4 hours a week.

Now I do not know about you, but I’m not somebody who is ready to waste even a minute

a week just because of a notification, which might not even be that important.

The myth of multitasking is that it will make you more productive.

Which essentially means that if you are writing an article or reading something, as well as

looking at your phone, and chatting with a friend, also going to YouTube, you are being

productive.

It’s a myth.

It doesn’t work like that.

In reality, remarkable focus is what makes the difference.

And multitasking is the dead opposite.

Doing more things does not drive faster or better results.

Doing things better drives better results.

Even more accurately, doing one thing, not multiple things, for a long stretch of time,

with remarkable focus, and doing it as best you can is what drives better results.

It’s all about focus!

Focus is your key to your productivity.

Focus in career, in life goals, yes, but focus in your day-to-day actives as well.

And if agree with me so far, comment “Yay!” right now.

So, now that you are convinced that multitasking is bad for you, I’m gonna tell you what

you should do instead.

One of the improvements that you can make is to assign one, and only one, priority for

each day.

You should obviously plan to complete other important tasks during the day, but your priority

task is the one non-negotiable thing that must get done.

And, this is a method that is practiced by all successful entrepreneurs and artists.

That one presentation, that one meeting, or that one creative piece of art should be your

prime focus.

The power of choosing one priority is that it naturally guides your behaviour by forcing

you to organise your life around this responsibility.

Your priority becomes an anchor task, the mainstay that holds the rest of your day in

place.

Now, your prior task can be anything, starting from going for a run in the morning, to delivering

a report to the client, or in fact writing that piece of code.

For me personally, it’s something like this.

I write articles for CoffeeAndJunk.com every Monday and Tuesday, I record videos for my

YouTube channel every Wednesday, and I record audio episodes for CoffeeAndJunk.com’s Patreon

page every Thursday.

Fridays and Saturdays are all about getting office work done.

Yes that is a priority since I still have a day job.

And Sundays are all about spending time with friends and family.

Yes, that’s a pretty important task as well.

If things get crazy, and yes they often do, there is no debate about what should get done,

and what should be skipped.

Since I have already decided what is urgent and what is important.

And I suggest you do the same.

Spend a good time while deciding your priorities.

It’s not something that gets decided in a minute.

And once you’ve set them, do not change them.

Try this method, put this into action, do it for a month, and I guarantee you results.

However, having said that, doing something like this is not at all easy.

You’ll face unique challenges.

And when you do, just come back and share them with me in the comments below.

As a society, I think we've fallen into the trap of busyness and overwork.

In many ways, I think we have mistaken all this activity to be something meaningful.

The underlying thought seems to be, “Look how busy I am!

Since I’m so busy, I must be doing something important.”

And, by extension, “I must be important since I'm so busy all the time.”

While I firmly believe that everyone has worth and value, I think we're kidding ourselves

if we believe being busy is what brings meaning in our lives.

In my experience, meaning is derived by bringing value to our corner of the universe.

And the more I study people who are able to do that, people who are masters of their craft,

the more I see that they have one thing in common.

Relentless focus!

The people who do the most valuable work have a remarkable willingness to say no to distractions,

and focus on their one thing.

There’s a famous saying by Steve Jobs: People think focus means saying yes to the

thing you've got to focus on.

But that's not what it means at all.

It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are.

You have to pick carefully.

I'm actually as proud of the things we haven't done as the things we have done.

Innovation is saying no to 1,000 things.

I think we need to say no to being busy and say yes to being committed to our craft.

Always remember, if you commit to nothing you’ll be distracted by everything.

That’s all from me for today!

Now it’s your turn.

What is that one thing that you wish to master?

What is the one priority that anchors your life or work every day?

Do you face difficulties in multitasking, or you still believe that multitasking is

actually helpful?

Either way, let me know by leaving a comment below right now.

Also, share this video with a friend, you know the one who does 10 things at a time,

and accomplishes nothing.

Tell them what I just told you about.

Tell them about the Switching Cost.

Better do it right now, before it’s too late!

Thanks a lot for watching this video and for giving me your valuable time.

If you enjoyed watching this, then please let me know by giving it a thumbs up.

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