How Effective is Multi-tasking?

I'm a multitasker and a recovering insomniac to boot. Usually when I'm up late I write, do stuff for my business, check email, do some housework, read, listen to music, etc. The only time I'm not multi-tasking is when I have my daily cup of tea and meditation on the porch. This helps me to stay even and calm, to just sit there for 5-10 minutes doing nothing but sipping my mug of tea. I like quiet reflection but other than this I don't consistently do it every single day.

Lately I have found that I get much more done when I focus on each task; when I move from task to task rather than trying to do multiple tasks all at once. I've heard and read before that multi-tasking is really not more effective than just doing things one at a time but being the hard-headed type and slow to boot it took me some time to learn this on my own. I found this article that says that the reason why multi-tasking can be inefficient is because it slows you down mentally each time you have to shift gears to work on a different tasks:

Whether people toggle between browsing the Web and using other computer programs, talk on cell phones while driving, pilot jumbo jets or monitor air traffic, they're using their "executive control" processes -- the mental CEO -- found to be associated with the brain's pre-frontal cortex and other key neural regions such as the parietal cortex. These interrelated cognitive processes establish priorities among tasks and allocate the mind's resources to them. "For each aspect of human performance -- perceiving, thinking and acting -- people have specific mental resources whose effective use requires supervision through executive mental control," says Meyer.
apa.org/releases/multitasking.html

This blog entry written by Trula Breckenridge. Thanks for visiting MSPmedia: Indie Publishing & Production!