IF you’re reading this and answering email and preparing a document for that meeting in a couple of hours, you may want to reconsider your approach. For me, it took stumbling upon the research of Stanford professor and scientist, the late Clifford Nass, to appreciate that trying to do multiple things at once isn’t necessarily the best strategy.
Nass, who spent his career researching how humans interact with technology, had presumed that people who juggle numerous tasks on separate devices or applications were somehow particularly skilled. It turned out he was wrong. He concluded that people who multitask aren’t nearly as effective as they seem.
He found that multitaskers often failed to ignore irrelevant information, keep information organized, and efficiently switch from task to task. Unfortunately, the multitaskers had no idea just how badly they were functioning. Worse still, the more people multitasked, the more they took on and the more poorly they did. Heavy-duty multitasking reduced people’s attention spans and their ability to concentrate.
What’s the alternative? Consider the rather quaint approach known as zoning in on one thing. At its best, you become so intently focused that you get lost in what you are doing. Repeat as necessary.
The next time you feel something’s just not right when you’re trying to complete several things at once, you might be onto something.
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Between now and the fall, CGA-Canada will continue to integrate its operations with those of CPA Canada. I am delighted to serve a second consecutive term as chair while the association moves through this process. CGAs and students will be kept up to date on association news and information through our social media channels and corporate website. If you haven’t yet joined the Official CGA-Canada group on LinkedIn, I encourage you to do so. You can also ‘Like’ the CGA-Canada page on Facebook and follow CGA-Canada on Twitter.
