Monotasking for been productive

We often think of time management as project planning and task prioritization, and both are extremely important for effective management. But what happens next, when we sit down to work, we start with the best of intentions, but after a certain amount of time we realize that we are not progressing as we should, if this happens to you you may have fallen into procrastination and multitasking, i.e. finding so many other things to be busy with that we never end up spending time on our project, you assume you are working because you feel busy, but in reality you are distracting yourself from real progress by jumping from one task to another.  Instead, why don't you try doing just one task, that's what this Monotasking technique is all about. Making use of this technique will allow you to complete high quality work in less time: it is a beneficial method for both performance and overall productivity.

Monotasking: focusing on a singule task at a time without any distractions. According to recent research, only 2% to 2.5% of the population can multitask effectively. From this, we can conclude that the average human brain is more adapted to single-tasking. Humans are constantly able to attend to several things in simultaneously (cooking and listening to a podcast, driving and chatting with the co-driver, eating and watching TV), but we can only concentrate on one of them, usually taking 23 minutes and 15 seconds to refocus on a given task after an interruption, according to research by Gloria Mark, a professor in the Department of C.S. at the University of California. On top of that, switching between activities such as opening a new browser tab takes a mental toll that translates into stress, frustration, pressure and the inability to think deeply. However, performing a single task because your brain is made that way is not the only reason to do so. It can be beneficial to your general health and productivity.

However, some of the key benefits of single-tasking include: 

• It can increase information retention: capacity of our brain that allows us to recall facts, memories, ideas, sensations or anything we have lived or experienced.
• Decreases errors and mistakes: It can be an action, a concept or a thing that was not done correctly.
• Increases productivity: Productivity is an indicator that defines how many products or services have been produced for each of the resources used in their production (labor, time and capital, among others) within a given period of time.
• Reduces stress: Stress is your body's reaction a feeling of physical or emotional tension to a challenge or demand.
• Promotes a state of flow: a state of mind that occurs when a person is fully immersed in a certain activity
• May increase overall well-being: is a positive result that is significant for individuals and society, because it tells us that people perceive that their lives are going well.
• Reduces frequency of directed attention fatigue: when the brain is in a state of fatigue due to concentration on one task while simultaneously avoiding other distractions around it.

Monotasking is much more effective than multitasking as a tool to maximize productivity. When you focus on just one thing, you invest all your attention and time, improving the quality of the results. When you focus on being present, you improve your relationships with those around you. By eliminating distractions, you can be available to others and connect with those around you on a deeper level, generating greater trust. Focusing on what you are doing, rather than what you could be doing, helps reduce stress. By letting go of the past and not worrying about the future, you can learn to be happy with what you are doing in the present. It sounds a bit mystical, but it's the truth. Here are some examples of why doing this technique is beneficial to your health and productivity.

Now that we know what Monotasking is all about, we should give it a try in our day to day life, some of the examples of how we can implement it would be:
blocking websites that drain attention and kill productivity is with an extension for your browser an example could be entertainment sites like (Facebook and instagram), keep only one tab open when you are working, disable any notifications from applications or different websites, remove unnecessary browser extensions, replace your web browser with a minimalist one, cancel external noises around you to be able to concentrate and take breaks once the activity you were concentrating on is fully done.

References:

Spall, B. (2022, June 21). The life-changing magic of monotasking. Benjamin Spall. Retrieved February 17, 2023, from https://benjaminspall.com/monotasking/ 

zoss, A. (n.d.). Libguides: Project management: Monotasking. Monotasking - Project Management - LibGuides at Duke University. Retrieved February 17, 2023, from https://guides.library.duke.edu/projectmanagement/monotasking