For a long time, switching between three tasks at once felt like getting three times as much done. It rarely was.
Switching Costs Are Real
Every time attention moves from one task to another, there’s a brief cost — a few seconds, sometimes more, of re-orienting before real focus returns. Multitasking isn’t parallel work, it’s rapid switching, and the switching itself has a price.
One Thing, Fully Finished
Working on a single task until it’s genuinely done, rather than three tasks left half-finished, tends to produce better results and a clearer sense of progress at the end of the day.
What this looks like in practice
Closing every tab except the one needed for the current task, and keeping a running list nearby for anything else that comes to mind, prevents the “just checking one thing” spiral that leads back into multitasking.
Batching Beats Switching
Grouping similar small tasks — replying to messages, making calls — into one block, rather than scattering them throughout the day, keeps the switching cost contained to one transition instead of dozens.
Stopping multitasking didn’t slow work down. It mostly stopped work from quietly slowing itself down, one interruption at a time.
