The Silent Killer of Progress: Multi Tasking
The real cost of multi tasking, and how to reclaim your focus.
Let’s be honest—multitasking sounds great on paper.
You’ve got a lot going on, so why not juggle a few things at once? Check some emails while you plan that next project. Jump on a call, answer a Slack message, and keep that half-written proposal open “just in case” you can squeeze in a few lines.
It feels productive.
But here’s the truth:
You’re not actually getting more done.
You’re just getting more tired.
Multitasking is a Myth.
You’re not working on multiple things—you’re just switching tasks, fast and often.
And that switching?
It’s draining your time, energy, and clarity.
Cal Newport (if you haven’t read Deep Work, now’s the time) breaks this down perfectly:
Every time you switch tasks, your brain has to reset.
It doesn’t just slide smoothly into the next thing. It struggles to reorient, to figure out what matters now.
And that lag? It costs you.
Studies show it takes around 23 minutes to fully refocus after a task switch.
So every time you bounce between tasks, what you’re really doing is adding friction—burning time and energy to get back into flow.
You’ve Felt This.
That feeling at the end of the day where you’ve been busy for hours, but nothing meaningful moved?
That’s not laziness.
That’s the cost of context switching.
You were in motion, but not in progress.
Here’s What’s Real:
The most productive people—the ones doing work that matters—aren’t doing more.
They’re doing less, better.
Greg McKeown nailed this in Essentialism:
“If you don’t prioritize your life, someone else will.”
Multitasking is what happens when you let everything become a priority.
So What Do You Do?
You don’t need to overhaul your life or schedule to fix this.
You need to protect your focus.
Start time blocking. Give your best energy to the things that matter most—and do them one at a time.
Before switching tasks, bookmark where you are. Write a quick note. Save yourself from the restart lag.
And for the love of progress, close the damn tabs. You don’t need 12 open windows to prove you’re working.
Let’s Bring It Home:
Multitasking isn’t efficiency—it’s friction.
It’s disguised as productivity, but it’s just distraction.
You’ll get further, faster, by focusing harder on less.
If you want to dive deeper into this, seriously—pick up Deep Work. It’ll change the way you think about your time.
And if you’re still trying to do everything, Essentialism will help you see what’s really worth doing.
What’s one thing you can apply to your day and do differently?
📚 Referenced Books (ordering through these links supports StartupStuff!):
Deep Work by Cal Newport (Kindle version here)
Essentialism by Greg McKeown (Kindle version here)
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