In a world that celebrates agility and the ability to juggle multiple tasks at once, multitasking is seen as an essential skill for anyone aiming for high productivity. However, trying to multitask is actually holding you back — and the impact goes far beyond what you might imagine. Understanding why this habit can undermine your performance, and more importantly, how to stop today, is the first step to transforming your efficiency and quality of life.
Why Trying to Multitask Is Holding You Back
The phrase “trying to multitask” is key to understanding the real problem: the human brain is not designed to divide its attention among multiple complex tasks simultaneously. Contrary to popular belief, what we call multitasking is actually rapid task-switching — a phenomenon neuroscientists refer to as task switching.
Studies conducted at Stanford University (Ophir, Nass & Wagner, 2009) showed that people who believe they are good at multitasking actually perform worse on activities requiring attention control and working memory. This happens because the constant effort to switch between tasks reduces brain efficiency, increasing the time needed to complete each task and causing more mistakes.
Furthermore, this practice is directly linked to increased levels of cortisol — the stress hormone — and mental fatigue, which negatively affect both physical and emotional health (American Psychological Association, 2017).
The Hidden Cost of Multitasking in Your Life
What many fail to realize is that trying to multitask not only hampers productivity but also impacts the quality of work and life. Imagine writing a report while replying to emails and listening to a meeting simultaneously. The result? None of these tasks receive your full attention, lowering the final quality and increasing mental exhaustion.
Beyond the professional impact, multitasking undermines your ability to be present in important personal moments, like a conversation with a friend or leisure activities. Mindfulness science reminds us that focusing on the present is crucial for emotional balance and building authentic relationships.
How to Break Free from the Multitasking Trap and Regain True Efficiency
It’s not enough to want to stop — you need to create a mental and physical environment that doesn’t allow the old temptation of jumping from one thing to another. Instead of viewing concentration as a difficult task, try treating it as a muscle you can train and strengthen.
This means starting small: pick a task that truly matters and give it your full attention, without pressuring yourself for perfection or speed. Allow yourself to feel the natural rhythm of your thoughts, without rushing to the next stimulus.
Rearrange your space and devices so they work in your favor — not as constant sources of distraction. This might mean, for example, closing browser tabs unrelated to your current work or putting your phone on airplane mode during focus time.
Finally, embrace the practice of being present. Instead of fighting waves of scattered thoughts, observe them, welcome them, and gently bring your attention back to what is in front of you. It’s a process of self-compassion and discipline that, over time, transforms your ability to produce and to feel good while doing it.
In this way, multitasking loses its place in your routine, replaced by a genuine state of high performance and presence.
More Than Doing, Feeling: The Profound Impact of Working with Mindfulness
When you decide to abandon multitasking, something much greater happens than just gaining time or finishing tasks faster. You begin to rediscover the feeling of truly being present in what you do — an experience that, although simple, is deeply transformative.
Working mindfully means connecting with the moment, noticing every detail of the task, every thought, every emotion. This connection not only improves the quality of your output but also brings emotional balance that the frantic rush of multitasking never allows.
Research from the University of California, Irvine shows that this state of presence is linked to increased creativity and greater ability to solve complex problems (Mark, Gudith & Klocke, 2008). But beyond the data, what remains is a genuine sense of fulfillment — when work stops being an endless list and becomes a meaningful experience.
By prioritizing feeling over just doing, you find a new form of productivity where body and mind work together, generating not only results but well-being.
References
-
Ophir, E., Nass, C., & Wagner, A. D. (2009). Cognitive control in media multitaskers. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106(37), 15583-15587.
-
American Psychological Association. (2017). Stress in America: The State of Our Nation.
-
Mark, G., Gudith, D., & Klocke, U. (2008). The cost of interrupted work: More speed and stress. Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 107-110.
For deeper insights, also check our articles What Do Productivity and Gravity Have in Common
To better understand the concepts behind attention and focus, visit the Why Multitasking Doesn’t Work For You?