When most of us hear or say the word “multitasking” we think we are talking about a way to be more productive.  The truth is that “multitasking” makes us less productive and leads to burnout.  In fact, if you are seeking to grow your small business, you must be focused. 

Whether you are starting up your own business or running your own business multitasking is the opposite of focus.  It is about having several focal points at once.  The truth is that we cannot do several things at once.  In fact, studies have shown the human mind is only capable of doing one thing at a time.  We don’t multitask.  We switchtask.  And, every time we switch back and forth from one task to another there is a switching cost. 

Switching costs come as we have to momentarily review where we were at before we can start again.  And, the more complicated the task the higher the switching cost.  In fact it is estimated that the average worker loses 2.1 hours per day or over 8 hours per week in lost time by switch tasking. 

Even computers, where the term multitasking came from, do not multitask.  A processor, CPU, performs many tasks in sequence and can switch from one program to another very quickly that may make it appear to be multitasking.  The only way a computer can multitask if there is more than one processor.  This is sometimes called multiprocessing. 

Take a look at your business and your day.  To grow small business and to have a successful performance strategy you must focus your time.  If you don’t you will have too much going on and burnout.  Successful small business is about focus.  And when you lose focus you end up doing many things and few of them well. 

As a result your business and you will stagnate and fail.  If you want to learn more about multitasking I highly recommend the book by Dave Crenshaw, “The Myth of Multitasking”.  It is a short, quick and entertaining book that will give you some immediate insights on how to better utilize your time and move your small business forward. 

Owning your own business is a great challenge.  Start focusing and stop multitasking and the challenge will become more manageable and you will be more likely to succeed and much less likely to burnout and have the business fail.

Tags: grow small business, owning your own business, performance strategy, running your own business, small business, small business growth, starting up your own business, successful performance strategy

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 19th, 2009 at 2:48 pm and is filed under Coaching, Current Events and Small Business, Small Business and Personal Growth, Starting Your Own Business, Success In Small Business, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.