Just Say No

Although society appears to envy or covet the skills of multi-taskers, recent studies have conclusively shown that the act of multi-tasking reduces productivity. Bryan Appleyard comments:

Chronic distraction, from which we all now suffer, kills you more slowly. Meyer
says there is evidence that people in chronically distracted jobs are, in early
middle age, appearing with the same symptoms of burn-out as air traffic
controllers. They might have stress-related diseases, even irreversible brain
damage. But the damage is not caused by overwork, it’s caused by multiple
distracted work. One American study found that interruptions take up 2.1 hours
of the average knowledge worker’s day. This, it was estimated, cost the US
economy $588 billion a year. Yet the rabidly multitasking distractee is seen as
some kind of social and economic ideal.

The next time a potential employer asks if you can multi-task -- just say no. If he/she understands what makes a good employee, they will see it as a plus.