Increase Productivity and Performance and Lower Stress: The Myth of Multitasking

On Labor Day, I sprained my ankle trail running which required me to be on crutches for several days and in a brace with limited mobility for three weeks.  During that time, I noticed something.  I felt significantly calmer.  I felt grounded.  I felt a sense of inner peace at a time when things around me were anything but peaceful.  Once the brace came off and my mobility improved I noticed an increase in stress and anxiety.  As I reflected on this shift, the only thing different was that while I was injured I was unable to multitask; I had to focus on one thing at a time so as to not re-injure myself and well, to stay upright. My lesson? Multitasking doesn’t work for me.  As a therapist, I have known for years that our brains don’t actually multitask and that attempting to do so leads to lower productivity and higher stress.  And yet as someone who is still working on saying “no” more often (i.e., someone who takes on too much), multitasking was my way of getting it all done - or so I thought.

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