Multi Tasking: The Vote’s In For Successful Entrepreneurs

by Art Barron

Multi-tasking isn’t bad. There are times when it is very important to do so. But then, there are some instances, especially when it comes to business, when multi-tasking should be set aside. When running a business, all your attention should be focused only be on one thing.

It’s a fact that a successful entrepreneur doesn’t multi-task.

Definitions first. Multi-tasking is defined as juggling two or more tasks at the same time in an attempt to finish as many tasks as you can in the least amount of time. Simply put, it is man’s ability to perform more than one activity at the same time.

Here’s an example of multitasking. While you’re on your computer writing an e-mail, you could be taking a phone call with your headset, sipping coffee, and at the same time signaling a visitor to take a seat. That’s a lot of tasks done in one time!

In the short-term, multi-tasking is okay, as long as what you’re doing is fairly routine and technically simple. These things are so complex that an irregularity in performing here or there will severely damage the whole process. This is called “continuous partial attention”, and it is okay for those everyday, mundane situations. However, the life of a successful entrepreneur, especially when it comes to business, is anything but mundane.

What a successful entrepreneur needs is full concentration. Just imagine yourself talking with a customer. It wouldn’t be nice on their part if you were talking to them and at the same time doing something else like checking your phone, or reading an e-mail.

The Switching Cost: What it Takes To Switch from One Task to Another

The “switching cost” has been discovered by experimental psychologists in their research. This means that every time you change tasks, you will expend four minutes each time to be able to reach your maximum productivity. Just think: doing four tasks a time would cost you an extra 16 minutes!

Given such a piece of information, would you still opt to multi-task? True, a serious entrepreneur like you has a lot of things on your plate. You sometimes wish you have more than 24 hours in a day.

However, any serious entrepreneur should not sacrifice quality for quantity and should finish one task at a time. In the long-run, what you’ll spend in time you’ll more than make up for in productivity. What’s more, you’ll feel less stress, as your mind is only occupied with one thing at a time. If you keep on taking things one at a time, you’ll see that, sooner or later, your workload has been significantly reduced and your end results have superb quality. Truly, this is what every successful entrepreneur wants in the end!

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