Multitasking reduces your efficiency and performance because your brain can only focus on one thing at a time. When you try to do two things at once, your brain lacks the capacity to perform both tasks successfully. Research also shows that, in addition to slowing you down, multitasking lowers your IQ.

2 : the performance of multiple tasks at one time The job requires a person who is good at multitasking.

Intelligence is the best single predictor of overall job performance and it is also related to individual differences in multitasking. The main finding shows that intelligence and WMC are both related to multitasking, but only WMC predicts multitasking when their simultaneous relationship is considered.

Frequent multitasking can change the neural pathways in the brain. When we are constantly scattered, it makes it increasingly difficult for the brain to sustain attention for even short periods of time.

Multitasking seems like a great way to get a lot done at once. But research has shown that our brains are not nearly as good at handling multiple tasks as we like to think they are. In fact, some researchers suggest that multitasking can actually reduce productivity by as much as 40%.

Especially today, when leaders and employees alike are facing an influx of tasks and duties, and are encountering various challenges and distractions along the way, multitasking is a valuable skill that should continuously be improved upon in order to maximize productivity and success.

Several studies have shown that high multitaskers experience greater problems focusing on important and complicated tasks, memory impairment of new subject matter, difficulty learning new material, and increased stress levels.

When doing several things at once, your mind is divided between them so it’s only natural that your mistakes will multiply. And according to the Stanford research, multitaskers are terrible at filtering out irrelevant information. That means that there is sure to be some mental cross-firing and overlap between tasks.

1. Make it clear that you don’t want to be distracted. There’s nothing worse than being in the middle of an important task and having someone come over to chat.
2. Turn off your email notifications.
3. Turn your phone off when you’re not using it.
4. Make a to-do list.
5. Prioritise the most challenging tasks.
6. Schedule multiple breaks.

Multitasking creates stress and anxiety Various studies have shown that multitasking increases our brain’s production of cortisol, a hormone that creates stress. Once we’re stressed and mentally fatigued, anxiety builds up. And this leads to stress builds up. It’s a vicious cycle of constant stress and anxiety.

Multitasking usually causes poorer performance when doing two things at once, and puts more demands on the brain than doing one thing at a time. This is because the human mind suffers from an “attentional bottleneck”, which only allows certain mental operations to occur one after another.

The brain’s role. Though the brain is complex and can perform myriad tasks, it cannot multitask well. Another study by René Marois, a psychologist at Vanderbilt University, discovered that the brain exhibits a “response selection bottleneck” when asked to perform several tasks at once.