I read an article today on recent multitasking research done by the Human Information Processing Lab at Vanderbilt University. Their researchers used MRIs to locate "bottlenecks" in the brain and measured the lost efficiency due to performing two or more tasks at once. Now I haven't done indepth scientific research on my own into this matter or particular study. But, I'm sure anyone who's encountered the multitasking driver in the other car doesn't need much convincing that doing a lot of things all at once reduces overall performance.
Spreading your concentration and resources over a number of items has several consequences. Performance drops. Quality lessens. Delivery times increase. Unfortunately we multitaskers are often too busy to even take note of the negative impact.
Besides the work related results multitasking also hits the personal side. We are more stressed and depressed because the lack of efficiency and satisfaction of completion. Our connection and communication with other people lessens because we are distracted. Society progressively becomes more "rude" as people no longer give full attention to the others right in front of them.
If you own or manage a business then you probaby have the same thought I have about multitasking...yeah, good point, but I've got to multitask in order to just keep everything running. I feel your pain. However, I've also learned there's a time for multitasking and a time for delegation. It is those businesses who learn the difference that survive and flourish. Multitask in your areas of expertise and let others help you be successful in the other areas.
In my entire career I have never cut a single payroll check or negotiated a single health insurance plan for my employees. It's not because I couldn't do the work. Human resources is not one of my areas of expertise. So instead of trying to save a little money by doing the work myself and having to keep up with all the continual changes in the laws and best practices, we have always outsourced our HR to a professional employer organization. They take care of all that for me, every month, so all I have to do is tell my accountant how much to pay them each month. Sure it costs a little but I estimate it saves me 2-4 full weeks of time. That's time I use to stay focused in areas I naturally perform better, such as sales and customer service. The ROI is huge.
I speak to lots of great businesses each week who are professional and very good at what they do. Then I see them try to add yet another item to their to do list by trying to handle their online presence by themselves. As with my HR work, they may be personally capable, but at what cost? There's a skill and knowledge curve to initially get over then there's the continuing education. That's just getting a website up. If they do get online most don't know what to do from that point. Plus, every hour they spend "saving money" by doing it themselves has the opportunity cost of not growing sales or improving operations. The end result is almost always the same...a poor quality online presence and dissatisfaction with the overall performance.
Business owners and managers will never stop having to do lists that are perpetually too long. But if the captain tries to steer the ship, swab the poop deck and make dinner for the crew, the ship will eventually wreck. Even if the captain does pull it off the ship won't sail as well as it could.
We taken that approach with 1011 by limiting ourselves to focusing
solely on our clients' online presence instead of catering to every
technology need they could possibly want or need. Sure we could make
some additional revenue handling hardware, networking, etc. But by
focusing on just web design, development and marketing each day we
become better at what we do and provide faster, higher quality results for our clients.
Your list may not go away regardless how long or hard you work, but you can approach it with more wisdom. Prioritize where you spend your own efforts and give those tasks the undivided attention they deserve for quality results. Delegate or outsource the items you can so at least your work on them is reduced to just follow up. The others...don't let them kill your business by turning your into an unfocused multitasker.