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subject: Successful Entrepreneurs Are Just Not Into Multi Tasking [print this page]

Multi-tasking isn't badMulti-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.

A successful entrepreneur doesn't multi-task, and this is a fact!

Multi-tasking, by definition, is said to be the act of simultaneously doing two or more tasks in hopes of doing the most number of tasks in the least amount of time. Simply put, it's the most you can do in the fastest way you can do them.

A classic example involves writing an e-mail, answering a phone call, sipping your coffee, and "mouth-signaling" your incoming visitor to stay on the couch while you finish the call. That's four tasks all at once. Amazing, right?

Multi-tasking is okay, if the activities that you are taking care of are fairly simple and somewhat routine in nature. In technical terms, this is called "continuous partial attention" where one does a number of things at a time and that these tasks are not studied in depth. And this is rarely the case for a successful entrepreneur.

One of the things that a serious entrepreneur needs is concentration, especially if your business is one that calls for face-to-face or personal interaction with customers. No customer would be thrilled if you would be talking to them, while at the same time, talking to another customer on your phone while emailing another on your computer. No one will ever accuse you of being a competent entrepreneur if you're like this, much less a serious entrepreneur.

The Switching Cost - the Cost of Switching 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!

So do you still want to multi-task? Sure, a serious entrepreneur has a great number of things to do. If it were possible, there should be more than 24 hours in a day!

What any successful entrepreneur should do, however, is finish one task at a time. On the average, you may have the same result as compared to doing portions of each task. The benefit comes from the non-quantifiable things that you get out of completing tasks one at a time. You get less stressed simply because you'll have one frame of thought at a time. As a result, as you shred off tasks one by one, you have less and less things to think about. And this, perhaps, is the secret of success for any serious entrepreneur!

by: Art Basmajian

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