Why Multitasking Holds You Back
How chasing “efficiency” quietly erodes focus, depth, and meaningful progress
We like to tell ourselves we can do it all at once. Answer emails while in a meeting. Scroll through our phone while talking to someone. Work on three projects in parallel. The word “multitasking” feels like a badge of honor — proof that we’re productive, adaptable, and in control.
But here’s the problem: multitasking is mostly a myth.
What we call multitasking is almost never simultaneous thinking. It’s task-switching — rapidly moving our attention from one thing to another. And every switch comes with a cost. Our brain has to pause, reorient, and re-immerse itself in the new task. We lose depth, we lose flow, and over time, we lose the ability to sustain focus at all.
This isn’t about shaming distraction. It’s about understanding the trade-offs we rarely admit to ourselves.
The Hidden Cost of Switching
Every time we switch between tasks, even for a second, our mind leaves behind “attention residue” — fragments of the previous task still floating around in our head. That residue slows down thinking and makes it harder to reach deep focus.
Think about reading a book and checking your phone every few minutes. You can still read, but the words don’t land the same way. You don’t see the nuance in the sentences. You’re present enough to get the gist, but not enough to absorb.
This is why a two-hour block spent deeply focused on one thing is worth far more than four hours spread thin across five things.
Why Multitasking Feels Productive (When It Isn’t)
The trap is that multitasking gives us the feeling of productivity. We’re busy. We’re moving. We’re touching many things at once. That rush of activity feels like progress.
But it’s shallow progress — a lot of open loops and half-finished work. The brain gets hits of novelty and stimulation, which feels good in the moment, but it comes at the expense of momentum.
The truth is, most meaningful work happens in sustained, uninterrupted focus. Multitasking chips away at that without us noticing.
What to Do Instead
If multitasking is the enemy of depth, the antidote is intentional focus. Not complicated productivity systems. Not perfect conditions. Just a commitment to do one thing at a time — and to protect that choice.
Here are a few practical shifts that make a difference:
Work in clear blocks.
Decide what you’re working on before you start. Give it a defined container of time — 30 minutes, an hour, two hours. During that block, remove other inputs. The absence of decision-making frees you to go deeper.Batch the shallow stuff.
Emails, texts, quick admin tasks — these have a place, but not everywhere. Instead of letting them bleed into the day, batch them into set windows so they don’t invade your focused work.Use a “parking lot” for ideas.
Distractions often come disguised as good ideas. Write them down immediately in a separate place — a notebook, a note app — and return to your main task. This stops you from following mental rabbit holes mid-work.Get comfortable with single-task boredom.
If you’re used to constant stimulation, working on one thing for an extended period can feel uncomfortable at first. That discomfort isn’t a sign you’re failing — it’s your brain recalibrating to deeper focus.
The Deeper Shift: Redefining “Efficient”
The real challenge isn’t just breaking the habit of multitasking. It’s rethinking what efficiency actually means.
In a culture that rewards visible busyness, doing less at once can feel like doing less overall. But efficiency isn’t about the number of tabs open in your brain. It’s about how much meaningful progress you make in the time you give something.
A clear, finished piece of work is infinitely more valuable than ten half-finished ones. That truth is uncomfortable because it forces us to slow down, to choose, and to accept that we can’t give everything equal attention.
Focus as a Competitive Advantage
In a distracted world, the ability to focus is rare. That rarity makes it valuable. When most people are scattering their attention across dozens of inputs, the person who can sit down, shut out noise, and finish something well stands out.
You don’t have to be perfect at it. You just have to be better than most — and given the way attention is declining, that bar is surprisingly low.
A Simpler Way Forward
If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s this: doing one thing well feels better than juggling ten things poorly. The sense of completion, the clarity of thought, the quality of the outcome — all of it beats the hollow rush of “being busy.”
So the next time you feel the pull to multitask, pause. Ask yourself: “If I could only get one thing done right now, what would matter most?” Then do that, and only that, until it’s done.
Your work will be better. Your mind will be clearer. And you might just realize that multitasking wasn’t making you more productive — it was keeping you from real progress all along.