How to overcome procrastination and benefit from multitasking?

Today we are building the third part of the important aspects of the systematic attribute relevant to performance. As you recall, we initially talked about the difference between thinking and planning sequential versus thinking and acting in clusters, using filing versus piling. Then we looked into time management and how it can help to organize ones actions, both for individuals with a sequential approach to organization as well as for those with a more confuse approach to organization

One of the results of relative low scores on the systematic attribute, especially when combined with the tendency to work through clusters, piles, and less sequential approaches is a tendency to procrastinate.

Procrastination is a type of behavior which is characterized by deferment of actions or tasks to a later time. Psychologists often cite procrastination as a mechanism for coping with the anxiety associated with starting or completing any task or decision.

What is important to now is that procrastination in the context of business, management, and performance, is not typically occurring as a deliberate act –exceptions excluding. An individual at the management or leadership level does not want to procrastinate or deliberately do so. For people scoring low on the systematic attribute, when they have the clustering nature, procrastination occurs due to the overwhelming amount of data, information and associated tasks flowing into the brain of the manager or leader. Rather than organizing everything in sequence and attributing correct priorities, all data is put in clusters and piles.

That by itself is not even the problem. Seen as a single event it would not be an issue. When you look at a whole day or week of new information coming in on top of existing piles of data, information and tasks it becomes increasingly tough to keep track of what needs to be done first, what has the highest priority, and how to keep all other things in view. Things literally begin to fall through the cracks of capacity the mind can spare to monitor all the things that have been assigned a name, pile, file, or place, together with a priority.

For the person procrastinating this may result in stress, a sense of guilt, the loss of personal productivity, the creation of crisis and the disapproval of others for not fulfilling one’s responsibilities or commitments. While it is normal for individuals to procrastinate to some degree, it becomes a problem when it impedes normal functioning. Chronic procrastination may be a sign of an underlying psychological or physiological disorder.

The word itself comes from the Latin word procrastinatus: pro- (forward) and crastinus (of tomorrow). The term’s first known appearance was in Edward Hall’s Chronicle (The union of the two noble and illustre famelies of Lancestre and Yorke), first published sometime before 1548. The sermon reflected procrastination’s connection at the time to task avoidance or delay, volition or will, and sin.

For people with a natural tendency to act, plan and live sequentially, procrastination can be overcome by learning how to use tools, like planners, organizers, things like the MS Outlook Calendar, etc. On the other hand, individuals with a more clustered, piling, keeping everything n the table-nature, the solution to procrastination is to include deliberate pauses in every day, week, or other timeframe of reference. During these pauses, things that have been completed are recognized. This can initially happen on a list, piece of paper, white board, etc. After a while it will become a habit and can be performed completely in the mind.

The importance lies in the fact that the procrastinating individual, especially the clustering kind, does not ever see anything being completed. The number of clusters, piles, and unfinished tings seems to constantly increase and appear overwhelming. With the pause and deliberate recognition of completion, the brain can learn to forget things without guilt. If combined with methods of prioritizing, much more happiness in life can be achieved and sense of satisfaction is felt each time a pause leads to the realization of what has actually been completed.

Another aspect of the systematic attribute is the process of multitasking. Here is what I was able to unearth about the phenomenon of multitasking:

Human multitasking or multitasking is the performance by an individual of more than one task at the same time. The term is derived from computer multitasking. An example of multitasking is listening to a radio interview while typing an email. Multitasking can result in time wasted due to human context switching and errors due to insufficient attention.

Since the 1950s, experimental psychologists have done many experiments on the nature and limits of human multitasking. In general, these studies have disclosed that people show severe interference when even very simple tasks are performed at the same time, if both tasks require selecting and producing action (e.g., Gladstones, Regan, & Lee, 1989; Pashler, 1994). Many researchers believe that action planning represents a “bottleneck”, which the human brain can only perform one task at a time.

Author Paul Johnson describes one kind of multitasking: “It usually involves skimming the surface of the incoming data, picking out the relevant details, and moving on to the next stream. You’re paying attention, but only partially. That lets you cast a wider net, but it also runs the risk of keeping you from really studying the fish.”. Multimedia pioneer Linda Stone coined the phrase “continuous partial attention” for this kind of processing. Continuous partial attention is multitasking where things do not get studied in depth.

Multitasking has been criticized as a hindrance to completing tasks or feeling happiness. Timothy Ferriss argues that one should rarely multitask and should instead devote full attention to completing a very small set of defined goals. Barry Schwartz has noted that, given the media-rich landscape of the internet era, it is tempting to get into a habit of dwelling in a constant sea of information with too many choices, which has been noted to have a negative effect on human happiness 

In my studies, I find that this aspect of happiness is mainly related to the discomfort caused by endlessness. It is the endless amount of information one can find in all the media available today. It is the endlessness of emails coming in every day, the seemingly endless stream of meetings to attend. That does not mean that multitasking cannot lead to happiness. It can if done right. 

When I say right, the assumption is that there is a desire to do more than one thing at a time (or the need) combined with a process that seeks to achieve success and happiness. The way you can do this is by training yourself to recognize which things you can do together. In most cases this works best if one thing or task actually supports the other. A good example would be listening to calming music while having to create a complex document or assemble a product.  

The music is basically occupying the senses, especially the ears. If you work in an environment you feel safe in, you don’t need to pay attention to noises that could forebode danger. If the music is soothing to you, it will put you in a relaxed, comfortable state of mind. In this state, you will probably create a better document or assemble a product faster and with more precision then first doing the work and then listening to the music. The sounds support your actions. 

Another example would be the use of the computer program PowerPoint while giving a speech. Sadly, most people and organizations violate the real purpose of this software. It was supposed to allow users to create and display graphics, pictures, audio, and videos. Today, in most cases, people just use slides to show bullet lists of words, or even a partial list of the exact statements they make during their speech or presentation.  If you really take time to identify supporting pictures, tables, and graphics to go along with your speech, then put the screen of your computer in your view without loosing contact with the audience, you can actually provide a much more powerful speech or presentation by activating all the senses the listener and viewer has. In most cases they will remember the pictures and metaphors, and not the words you spoke. Interestingly enough, they will probably also still know what you wore and how you sounded a couple of years later. 

Multitasking in this way is helpful and not a problem. When you do it by splitting your attention partially into two or more things, you will not only create stress, but your work results will be lacking and you will not be a good role model for those you expect to follow your lead or directives. 

With filing and piling, planning and clustering better understood, time management explained, and today’s excursion into procrastination and multitasking complete, we are ready to explore the Pareto Principle and some myth about systematic attributes and organization. 

Axel Meierhoefer, President AMC LLC