Multitasking is Bullshit

When I drive down the road, I see a common sight. The car ahead of me is driving slowly and swerving. I pass the car, and it is someone at the wheel texting or yammering on their cellphone. This is multitasking, and it doesn't work.

I have been reading study after study on multitasking, and the evidence is overwhelming. Multitasking is bullshit. You can't do more than one thing at a time except walk and chew gum. Anyone who says they can pull this shit off is lying.

I have been doing the multitasking thing for years now, and I can tell you that I get nothing done because of it. I am neither faster nor more productive. The best I can manage is to talk on the phone while driving, but I have since ceased this activity. One day, your luck runs out, and you rear end a car.

At work, I know this guy who praises multitasking. When I tell him it is bullshit, he vehemently disagrees with me. Yet, everyone I work with agrees that Mr. Multitasker can't even singletask because he is an utter dipshit. The stupid fucker is merely spouting off corporatespeak and slurping slobber over the balls of some superior telling them shit they want to hear. What boss doesn't want to hear that you can accomplish ten things at one time? But in the long run, the truth emerges. When you overpromise and underdeliver on a consistent basis, people recognize you for being a dipshit.

Singletasking or unitasking is the way to go. This is where you underpromise and overdeliver. The unitasker will get more shit done than the multitasker and will also get it done faster. But this involves not answering emails or picking up the phone. It means saying no to certain things. This will make you very unpopular in the short run. No one wants to be denied or ignored. But to get shit done, you have to become The Abominable No-Man. But in the long run, they will love you. This is because you will produce while everyone else is bullshitting.

I am a unitasker now. I focus on one thing at a time and get it done. What I have found is that the secret to getting things done is to not start multiple projects and leave them unfinished but to do one thing at a time and never stop. This leads to a chain of completed tasks. I focus and lose myself in the task. Doing one thing at a time beats the overload of the multitasker.

Multitaskers are world class bullshitters. They exaggerate what they are able to accomplish with their ADD tactics. But when you inspect their results, they are lacking. They confuse motion with action. They are a flurry of activity but no progress. When they complete a task, it is shitty and often has to be redone. And at least one to two of their multitasks involves bullshitting on the phone or surfing websites that are not work related.

The successful unitasker will shut out the distractions and eliminate the unnecessary. Focus is the key. The results of unitasking will speak for themselves.

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