Suw Charman recently posted an article on Corante where she begins: “Deep down, we all know it. Multitasking is bad for productivity.” We know that, too.
Later in the article, she realizes that she can eliminate multitasking by using dictation software:
Whilst I was dictating, I had a bit of a mini-epiphany. Despite having all the usual applications and websites open that haunt me on a daily basis, I was much more tightly focused on what I was doing. Because I was speaking aloud and not writing, I found I wasn’t spending half as much time looking at the computer screen as usual – instead, I was gazing off into the middle distance, scrutinising the door jam or staring at the ceiling. I only noticed that there were Twitter messages or IMs to read when I glanced back at the screen. Even though I felt awkward dictating, I got closer to a state of actual concentration than I have in a goodly long time.
Was Suw’s epiphany about voice recognition software, or was it all about her realization that when she didn’t look at the computer, she got more done?
If Twitter was audio conversation, and RSS feeds were all podcasts, and our email was read to us…we’d have no choice but to deal with it one at a time. If all that audio input coming at us all once, we’d only hear what amounts to white noise. It is a lot easier to focus on one thing visually, while still being aware of what you’re seeing in your peripheral vision, than it is to filter out one stream of sound in a lot of noise.
Now look at your own screen and see how many tabs you have open, the email application that’s running in the backround with enough of the window poking through so you can see that the word “Inbox” is bold with new mail. Maybe Twitter, IM and Skype are all going and visible somewhere on your monitor(s).
The challenge isn’t in taking in all that visual stimuli. We can do that. We know what we’re looking at, even when there’s a lot to see at one time. Regardless of how much we can process visually, we process much less simultaneously with the other senses. It’s not multitasking that’s the enemy, it’s peripheral vision. Right now, I’m looking at this text field in WordPress, but I know it wouldn’t take much for that Twitterific window at the far corner of my 2nd display to pull my attention when I catch it updating out of the corner of my eye.
The steps we need for action can only happen one at a time. We say one word at a time. We write or type one sentence at a time. We are physically in one place at a time.
Your eyes want you to multitask and do everything at once. Resist. Like Suw learned, use dictation software like Dragon Naturally Speaking to get your thoughts out. You can always edit and clean it up later. Have Text-to-Speech software read content to you, which will stop you from skimming all over the page.
How many times do you complain that you have so much going on but you didn’t get anything done? Next time that happens, close your eyes. You might find yourself more productive when you absolutely need to be.
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