For many years the way to productivity was multitasking. What could be better than getting two things done at once!

But more and more there has been a backlash against multitasking. In many of the latest hot productivity books and blogs, the experts have now been advocating that multitasking is a hindrance rather than a helper.

It can even be dangerous:

If you’re driving while cell-phoning, then your performance is going to be as poor as if you were legally drunk,
-David Meyer, a psychology professor at the University of Michigan.

I learned this the hard way.

I was driving home from a client site and while talking on my cell about the detailed system design for another project I went right through a red light.

In fact, I didn’t even see the light until I was through it! Luckily no one was coming the other day. At that moment I decided that I was done trying to multitask in the car.

It seems our brains are just not wired for multitasking. And it’s not only when we’re driving. I find negatives about multitasking even when trying to work on tasks at my desk. Here’s my takeaway:

• Multitasking prevents you from finishing the important tasks: You are better off focusing on completing a few big tasks rather than lots of little ones
• Multitasking distracts you from doing your best work: As many studies have now proven, people work best in a private office with closed doors rather than open cubicles.
• Multitasking takes additional effort: It takes additional energy to switch between tasks. It’s much more efficient just to focus on one.
• Multitasking stresses you out: Trying to do too much at once makes people unhappy. It just becomes overwhelming to many people.

The temptation to multitask is even worse in our overly connected environment of phoning, texting, web surfing emailing, facebooking, twittering etc. It’s almost too easy to do a lot at once.

In fact, my favorite tip for combating multitasking is to go as low tech as possible:

1. Find a quiet place
2. Turn off electronic devices
3. Write an ordered list of tasks
4. Work on one item at a time
5. Cross off and repeat

So the next time you’re tempted to do those five things at once, grab a piece of paper write them down and try one at a time.

A weakness of all human beings is trying to do too many things at once.
~Henry Ford