43 Folders

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Merlin’s weekly podcast with Dan Benjamin. We talk about creativity, independence, and making things you love.

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43Folders.com is Merlin Mann’s website about finding the time and attention to do your best creative work.

The Myth of Multitasking


The Myth of Multitasking
Originally uploaded by Tim Morgan.

Nicely put! (cf.)

xyb's picture

Oooh... the interstitial time... that's...

Oooh... the interstitial time... that's a killer for those of us who are just too hyper to sit still and focus. I find I always have a chat window open to kill those interstitial waits, and it helps somewhat maintain focus.

Back in the day I was a receptionist. They had formal training for such jobs, back in the 80's. Someone did a study and found that if receptionist do other tasks, like word processing, answering the phone disrupted the other task to the point that it took an average of six minutes to return to the level of focus before the phone call.

And, yet, 20 years later, receptionists are still asked to do such things as filing and word processing. And someone still gets mad when they find mistakes.

 
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