In our last self mastery blog, we talked about how multitasking is more of a hindrance than a help. This time, we will go over an example of how it affects your work. Here’s a story from one of our coaches that shows how multitasking can hurt your productivity:
“One of the first clients I had years ago owns an auto repair shop. He wasn't productive. The client said, "I don't have any time in my day."
I responded, "Okay, let's do a time study. Let's see what's going on in your day." The client went through the time tracker.
WHAT THE TIME TRACKER REVEALED
This is what we found his days to be like: he would settle into his office and begin work, then, a mechanic would come in, throw some keys on the desk and say, "Here, I got a test drive for you."
He would fumble around, stop what he was doing, grab the keys, and head out for a test drive. He would come back ten minutes later, sit back down, and spend the next five minutes trying to figure out where he left off before having been interrupted by the test drive. Finally, he’s back in the zone of working.
Again, he’s working for roughly 10 minutes, another mechanic would come in and throw keys on the desk, "I got a test drive for you."
He would fumble around, stop what he was doing, grab the keys, and head out for a test drive. He would come back ten minutes later, sit back down, and spend the next five minutes trying to figure out where he left off before having been interrupted by, yet, another test drive. That typically happened two to three times every hour.
Do you see where this is going?