How Multitasking Limits Your Success

It’s a multitasking world. Answer the phone, write an email, cook dinner, check on the kids, read the mail and get ready for that meeting tomorrow…all at the same time. We're told that multitasking is a good way to get ahead but is it really? The average adult attention span is about 20 minutes and Western culture has decided to try and cram as much into that time as possible through the introduction of multitasking. The issue, though, is that the human brain can only place its full attention on 1 thing at a time which means the more multitasking you do, the less effective you are at doing it.

From an energetic and Law of Attraction perspective, multitasking leads to more unwanted results than we would prefer. This attitude of switching our attention from one thing to another every few seconds, and the stress that comes from it, contributes to the mixed results we get in our lives. For instance, we attract some positive things that make us feel like we’re heading in the right direction and a few days later, it looks like we’re back where we started. An inability to stay focused on one idea (which multitasking reinforces) results in switching energies from one thing to the next. One minute you’re focused on an exciting idea in your life and the next you’re worried about gas prices or who will win the next election. To really attract what we want in life, we have to be single-minded and focused, which Westerners have not been trained to do.

Looking at the East, where meditation is still an important part of the culture, we see trained minds capable of holding a single idea for hours on end and we marvel. They have trained themselves to focus like a laser beam and the results are highly impressive. This is how the Yogis and Tibetan and Buddhist monks perform miracles that boggle the Western mind—slowing their heart rate and breathing until they appear to be dead or sitting half naked in the snow with wet towels wrapped around them and drying them only with their body heat, for example. Interestingly, these feats are not performed by the more Westernized people who have adopted our fast-paced way of life.

Do Olympic coaches promote multitasking in their athletes? No. They teach their athletes to focus solely on winning. “See yourself at the finish line. See the gold medal around your neck” a coach might say. Many studies have verified the effectiveness of this method and major companies have begun to employ it. If multitasking really is the way to get ahead, why aren't the most successful people using it? In truth, the highly successful people understand the importance of focusing on a single idea. Rather than multitasking, they take the time and focus to visualize the end result of their endeavor, just like the Olympic athletes do.

I highly recommend learning to use guided imagery as a means of focusing thought. This method has been in use for thousands of years and is just as effective today. Experts say we only use 10% of the mind’s ability and I have no doubt that a big part of the reason is we haven’t learned to really focus our attention. We are easily distracted (another trait multitasking reinforces) and rarely put our full attention on anything. Just think about how much more effective you could be in your life if you learned to focus your attention.

Learn more about guided imagery .

Blessings,

Jason Hundley