I always raise an eyebrow when I see job postings with “multitasking” listed as one of the required skills. I mean, job postings are already a travesty on their own. Most of them sound like recruitment profiles for some sort of corporate fight club.
But when I see “multitasking,” I can usually tell right away that this may not be the kind of job people should be rushing to apply for. Why? Because multitasking isn’t really a skill. More often, it’s a fail-safe for companies that are disorganized, rely on outdated processes, or pull deadlines out of thin air instead of consulting the people who actually have to meet them.
You see, multitasking sounds productive. Multitaskers are the kind of people who answer emails during meetings, check messages during phone calls, and eat lunch while reviewing reports.
Very impressive. Very dedicated. Very likely to end in mistakes, burnout, and someone sending the wrong attachment to the wrong person.
Most of what we call multitasking is not actually multitasking. It is switching. Your brain is not doing five things at once. It is jumping from one thing to another, then back again, then briefly wondering why you opened that spreadsheet, then checking Teams, then forgetting the sentence you were writing.
The reality is that you can only multitask effectively when the second task is not cognitively demanding. That’s why you can drive and listen to music, or walk and chew gum. One task is taking up most of your mental bandwidth; the other is just along for the ride.
But answering emails during a strategy meeting or reviewing a report while taking a call is not multitasking—it’s task switching… or juggling, if you prefer a more fun analogy. Basically, it’s your brain being overwhelmed.
Research on task switching has shown that moving between tasks creates a heavy cognitive load, especially when the tasks are complex or unfamiliar. In other words, every switch forces your brain to reorient itself, reload the rules, remember where it was, and pretend it is fine. And it is not fine. It is screaming internally, “Information overload!”
So, why do workplaces still worship multitasking like it’s a sacred virtue? Let’s discuss.
Myth 1: Multitasking helps people get more done.
This is probably the biggest myth. I call it the “zombie myth,” because it keeps coming up and refuses to die.
The issue is that being busy and being productive are not the same thing. You can spend an entire day switching between tasks and not actually completing any one of them—and still finish the day exhausted.
Multitasking creates the feeling of productivity without the results of productivity. It gives you the emotional satisfaction of doing many things. This is why someone can say, “I worked all day and feel like I got nothing done,” and be completely right.
Myth 2: Some people are just naturally great at multitasking.
Yes, some people are better at handling interruptions than others. Some people can shift gears more smoothly. Some people recover faster after being pulled away from a task. But that does not make it a good thing.
Even people who seem good at multitasking are often just good at moving quickly between tasks. That can be useful in certain roles, especially when the work involves short, simple, or urgent tasks—like reception work, customer service, emergency response, and event planning.
However, rapid switching still has a mental cost. The person may look calm, but their brain is still doing extra work. And their hearts are probably racing.
Myth 3: Multitasking is necessary because everything is urgent.
A lot of multitasking happens because priorities are unclear—or badly prioritized. People are switching constantly because they are being pulled in too many directions by too many people who all believe their request deserves more attention. For example:
- A manager says the report is the top priority.
- A client wants a reply right away.
- A coworker needs “just two minutes,” which is never two minutes.
- A meeting interrupts the only focused hour available.
- Someone sends a follow-up message three minutes after the first one.
Then we wonder why people make mistakes. The problem isn’t, “My employees get distracted so easily!” Sometimes the real problem is, “I don’t know how to organize projects, prioritize tasks, or coordinate people effectively.”
Yes, I said it. I’m placing the onus on the manager.
Myth 4: Fast responses mean good performance.
Some managers praise instant replies and reward constant availability. The employee who responds to every email within three minutes is seen as engaged, responsive, and “on top of things.” Meanwhile, the person who is actually focused on a complex task and does not answer immediately because they are protecting their concentration can be seen as unresponsive.
Fast responses are useful sometimes. No one wants a customer issue ignored for three business days because “Greg was focusing on a task.” However, not every message is an emergency and not every email needs an immediate answer.
If your team is expected to respond instantly all day, guess what will happen? They will struggle to do work that requires actual concentration. Their brains cannot settle into a task if they are constantly waiting for the next interruption.
Myth 5: Multitasking only affects the person doing it.
Maya is overloaded with work. She is jumping from one task to another—finishing a report, answering calls, uploading a document to Teams, and sending an email to a teammate. She’s frazzled, so chances are the email she sends is unclear.
Her teammate then sends a follow-up email because they didn’t understand her original message. Meanwhile, everyone and their grandmother get CCed, so they are all pulled into the confusion.
Far-fetched? Not as much as you might think.
When your brain is overloaded from multitasking, you skim instead of read. You reply before understanding. You miss tone, forget decisions, and ask questions that were already answered three emails ago.
I can guarantee that somewhere in your Sent folder is a message you answered too quickly and then immediately regretted.
What managers can—and should—do instead
I already know what some of you are going to say: “It’s not possible to work on one task at a time. We’re too busy. There’s too much to do. The emails never stop. A very demanding but very lucrative client needs the spreadsheet by lunch.
I get it. However, you can control the work environment enough to prevent people from being constantly overloaded.
For example:
1. Clarify what matters on a day-by-day basis.
Not next week, next month, or next quarter. If people have ten priorities, help them identify the top two—that’s it. Otherwise, they will bounce between everything and finish nothing properly.
Ask: “What needs attention today, and what can wait?”
2. Protect focus time.
If a task requires analysis, writing, planning, reviewing, or careful decision-making, it needs protected, uninterrupted focus time.
Tell your team to block off at least one hour, and make it clear that this time should not be interrupted unless a genuine emergency comes up. That time should be spent on one complex task, and one task only.
3. Does it really need to be a meeting?
Before scheduling a meeting, ask:
- Can this be clearly summed up in an email? If yes, don’t have a meeting. Send an email.
- Does everyone need to weigh in before a decision is made? If yes, have the meeting.
- Is there confusion that needs live discussion? If yes, have the meeting.
- Are people just being updated? If yes, don’t have a meeting. Send an email.
- Does this require back-and-forth conversation, problem-solving, or agreement? If yes, have the meeting.
The point is not to ban meetings. The point is to stop treating every decision, idea, or problem as something that requires 18 people to interrupt their day.
Multitasking is not productive. So before praising someone for being “great at multitasking,” ask why they have to multitask so much in the first place. Are they actually being “efficient,” or are they just surviving a disorganized system? Because if your workplace depends on everyone juggling flaming torches all day, the problem is not that someone eventually drops one. The problem is that you handed them the flaming torches in the first place.