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Singletasking
Book

Singletasking

Get More Done, One Thing at a Time

Devora Zack
Berrett-Koehler, 2015

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8

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Recommendation

People try to multitask to accomplish the many jobs that confront them every day. But multitasking just doesn’t work. In fact, it adds to the time it takes to complete complex tasks. You will do much better if you handle tasks sequentially, one-by-one, and not simultaneously – which is actually impossible. Multitasking is symptomatic of larger societal problems, including alienation, the devaluation of human experience and meaningless relationships according to Devora Zack, a consultant and practitioner of neurolinguistic programming. She explodes the “multitasking myth” and offers a practical alternative – “singletasking” – focusing on one chore at a time – as the way to work and live with greater efficiency and production. Zack lives the sort of frenetic life that seems to demand multitasking, but instead she singletasks successfully. If you are trying to do too much, all at once, getAbstract recommends her fresh alternative to multitasking.

Take-Aways

  • The “Singletasking Principle” is: “Get more done, one thing at a time.”
  • Science has proven that multitasking doesn’t work. Your brain can focus on only one single challenging task at a time.
  • When people think they’re multitasking, they’re actually “task-switching” – that is, moving inefficiently back and forth between tasks.

About the Author

The President of Only Connect Consulting, Devora Zack is a member of the visiting faculty for Cornell University’s Johnson Graduate School of Management.

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    J. W. 7 years ago
    #30DaysOfSummaries Although there are people seems good at multitasking, I still find it most efficient for myself to be singletasking.
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    M. O. 7 years ago
    I may have to buy this book. I have never been very good at multitasking.
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    W. A. 7 years ago
    So true! Some people mistakenly believe that young people who grew up in the age of high-tech are natural multitaskers. However, the brains of young people are similar to the brains of older people and they face the same limitations when it comes to multitasking. No one, young or old, is a natural multitasker; multitasking is simply not a human capability!