Is multitasking good or bad for a healthy lifestyle?

Outline

What is multitasking? 

Advantages of multitasking

Disadvantages of multitasking

Examples of multitasking from routine life

How to practice multitasking healthily?

Article

• What is multitasking?

Hello guys! I am back with a new article and this time I am going to address multitasking in our common life we know that to some extent almost everyone among us multitasking in his or her routine life. The skill of multitasking can help you get your desired lifestyle and it can also hinder you from achieving it.

To understand whether multitasking is good or bad and how it impacts our lives, firstly we need to know its definition.

Multitasking means that we prioritize our tasks from routine life in such a way that we do more than one task at a time. Those who possess the skill of multitasking can meet their deadlines and accomplish their goals within time limits. But the problem is only very few people can practice multitasking and the majority of us are not able to do it. Because it requires a quite focused mind and an organized work schedule to perform more than one task at a single time.

For instance, you are a working woman and you have to take care of your children, send them to school, keep an eye on their grades, spend time with your husband and friends, manage your work life, manage your house, etc. So, to manage this hectic schedule, you need to be a superwoman or you need to be perfectly organized. So, that you can multitask at one time and manage your busy schedule.

Many of you are already practicing multitasking. For example, you are driving and talking to your over a phone call, while cooking dinner you are watching a program on television, you are checking your child’s assignment while sorting out the laundry, etc. Sometimes our multitasking makes us finish our to-do list on time. But at some other time, it may end up being messed up and making blunders.

• Advantages of multitasking

Multitasking can be both good and bad for you, as it depends on your focus level and ability to organize your work schedule perfectly. Whether it is good or bad for you, you have to decide by yourself. Only you know whether you are capable of multitasking or not.

The advantages of multitasking in your routine life are as follows,

1. Multitasking can save you time and make you able to complete your scheduled tasks within a time limit which in turn would improve your lifestyle.

2. Multitasking makes you able to do many things at one time and prevents you from hiring some help to do a few tasks for you. So, it will save you money and relieve you from the burden of paying extra dollars to someone else.
3. Multitasking helps you increase the work capacity of your brain and makes it more efficient.
4. It also helps you to increase your productivity by allowing you to do many things at one time and complete your to-do list before others who are not multitaskers.
5. Multitasking helps you to avoid distractions and focus only on your tasks. Because you know that distractions while practicing multitasking can be suicidal for your overall performance.

• Disadvantages of multitasking

Here are a few disadvantages of multitasking,

1. Multitasking affects the quality of your work. Because while doing it your attention is divided into two or many things and this can ruin the quality of your tasks.

2. While multitasking your brain is continuously switching attention and focus on different things and it increases the chances of errors and mistakes. So, in turn, it can become a source of stress and tension for you.
3. When you are multitasking, your overall productivity level diminishes. Because you are continuously changing focus from one task to another it makes your mind distracted. So, you may not be able to do a task at an increased pace, but your pace may fall.
4. A multitasker person becomes isolated because his mind is always engulfed with work-related tension and he forgets to interact with his friends and other people around him.
5. Another disadvantage of practicing multitasking is that you may suffer from memory loss. Because handling a burden above your capacity or managing many things at one time, may slow down your brain.

• Examples of multitasking from routine life

Here I am going to share a few examples of multitasking that can help you boost your performance level in a day and also achieve a healthy and balanced lifestyle.

1. Reading a book while having your dinner.

2. Doing your workout session while watching TV.
3. Cooking more than one dish at the same time.
4. Listening to your favorite podcast while cleansing your skin.
5. Sending email during a meeting.
6. Taking notes during a lecture.
7. Talking to a friend while making a planner for the next day.

Many of you are already practicing some of these multi-task examples in your routine life and they must be aware that to some extent, multitasking is beneficial for us. But, beware that you cannot multitask in every situation, as some tasks need our full and hundred percent attention. For example, a surgeon cannot multitask while performing surgery, you cannot multitask while driving on the highway, and you cannot multitask while working with hazardous chemicals. In such situations, multitasking would risk not only your well-being but also of others and the essence of a healthy and balanced lifestyle would be ruined completely.

• How to practice multitasking healthily?

As I told you to some extent majority of us are multitasking to keep pace with fast-moving life. So, here I am going to share a few tips with you to polish your multitasking skills and decrease the chance of error. 

1. Make a detailed list of all of your goals for the day. As it will give you an insight into what needs to be done.

2. Then look at all the tasks and goals for a day and try to find out which two are three you can do at the same time. This is known as the grouping of tasks.
3. The next step is to minimize the number of distractions to the lowest possible level. It will help you practice multitasking most productively and efficiently. 
4. While multitasking always remember that you need to maintain a healthy pace. Because a lower or higher pace may ruin the result of multitasking.
5. If a task on your to-do list needs your full attention and focus, never try to group it with some other task. As it will not produce the desired result and create a lot of mess for you.
6. One other important thing while practicing multitasking is that you need to take a few intervals of breaks during your work schedule. It will let you relax your fatigued body and stressed muscles and increase your productivity.
7. In the end, if you complete a task by doing multitasking, you need to celebrate your success. Because it will keep you motivated and make you realize that you are making progress.

The goal of your life should be being productive rather than being busy. Because being busy doesn’t mean that you are doing something important. So, you need to kick out your busy schedule and try to become productive by incorporating healthy multitasking skills and I am sure, in turn, it would improve your lifestyle.