Whenever we try to be MULTITASK, we lose FOCUS!
In this present discussion, I want to make an approach of a paradox that our society is experiencing in this early century and which impacts our lives and our companies.
As I belong to the “baby boomer” generation, I consider that I had and, still have, the privilege to have seen and, in some situations, actively participated in the deep social, behavioral and, lately, in the technological changes of the latest 50 years.
It is of common knowledge how fast everything is happening in the world and a good portion of this is due to the technological progress. Until a short time ago, we had specific times for each one of our daily tasks and there was a clear separation between our professional and personal life! I can clearly remember that when I was a kid /a teenager (in the 60’s), the TV had only a few channels and it had an specific time to begin broadcasting and an specific time to end it. That world no longer exists!
I do not want to seem nostalgic, even because I am and I have always been fanatic for the future, for new technologies and the novelties that come with them! The fact is that everything has changed and the point I want to highlight with this sentimental wording is that, nowadays, we are bombarded by two forces that are fully antagonistic, which puzzle us and which force us to be extremely agile and adaptable:
The first one of them is the pressure for knowledge, efficiency, productivity, professionalism and responsiveness in order for us to become outstanding from others and to be able to reach a place in the sun.
The second one is the pressure to be able to catch up with the ‘tsunami’ of information that is laid on us daily and absorb those pieces of information which are of our interest and which may bring us benefits and makes us stand in outstanding positions.
If, on the one side, the first one demands specificity and focus more and more so that we may produce something with quality, the second one makes us feel spaced out in a brutal manner and, in order to try to conciliate those two pressures, we try to be (or we think we can be) “multitask”, like the current computer processors which have several “cores”, where each one is dedicated to a different task with the same attention.
There are several scientific clinical studies that prove that our brain, in spite of being the best computer in the world, uses some tricks to deal with that, so that the repetitive tasks that it can already do will get engaged in an automation process, but our attention is always turned towards the main task to which we are dedicated. The graph below shows a study prepared by the BBC about this issue!
In my humble opinion, the only possible way for us to be able to live and survive (professionally speaking) is to have much discipline and to control very well the selective use of our attention.
The correct choice for the best communication tools and information absorption (e-mails, whatsapp, twitter, facebook, linkedin, etc); the correct time management with the prioritization of its activities, separating the urgent from the important and the effective controlof the interruptions which knocks on our door will improve our level of attention to the tasks that we are developing. Additionally, the planning in advance ofour obligations and commitments and, finally, the most important thing, the allocation of a time that is only ours and dedicated to the THINKING, will let us feel a little less stressed out and will make us more efficient!
José Paulo Graciotti, is consultant and founding Partner of GRACIOTTI ASSESSORIA EMPRESARIAL, engeneer by Escola Politécnica Universidade de São Paulo, with Financial MBA at FGV and specialized in Knowledge Mnagement by FGV. ILTA Member since 1998 (International Legal Technology Association) and ALA (Association of Legal Administrators), with more than 27 years managing Law Firms in Brazil – www.graciotti.com.br
