Multi-tasking. What you’ve been told all these years is a lie. The hope that you will be more productive? The line that you are more likely to succeed if you jam more into a shorter period of time? It’s all BS. When faced with too many options, you are more likely to buckle under the pressure.

Prioritize, Don’t Multitask

Of course, I’m not talking about walking and chewing gum at the same time. I’m talking about higher level tasks, tasks that require your attention and concentration. While you can technically do more than one at a time, odds are you won’t do them well. Writing, good writing, falls smack dab in that category.

Blame it on context switching. The human brain cannot process multiple higher order tasks at the same time. Instead, your mind rapidly switches from one task to another. Anticipating a switch to the next task, you become distracted and more prone to errors. Worse, you are never quite able to reach flow and that’s where your creative juices are at their best.

Balance and Flow

The best way to tackle all those writing projects is to find your state of flow. That means pushing multi-tasking aside and focusing on one task at a time.

We all know what it feels like to be in flow. It’s this amazing feeling when you are in “the zone”. For me, flow brings me so fully into the moment that the world around me blurs away. Time does not exist. Everything feels easy and I am truly immersed in what I’m doing. Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi describes it as a moment of ecstasy.

When you write, you want to be in flow because that’s where you’ll be most inspired and get the most work done. Unfortunately, multi-tasking makes that all but impossible.

• On average, context switching happens every 3 minutes when you multi-task.
• It takes 15 minutes or more to get into flow state when you are uninterrupted.
• It takes 25 minutes or more to effectively resume an activity after you’ve been distracted.
• Multi-tasking decreases productivity by 40%!

Instead of constantly switching between tasks, give your full attention to one task at a time. Not only will you be more productive, the quality of your work will improve.

Get Organized

To tackle your many writing projects, it’s best to put multi-tasking aside and plan ahead. The first thing you need to decide is whether you will work on your projects in series or in parallel. Working in series means you will bring one project to completion before starting another one. Not everyone has the luxury of doing this, especially if their writing pays the rent. Think how long it takes to write a novel! Working in parallel, on the other hand, allows you to work on multiple projects at once. In that case, you need a strategy:

Prioritize tasks. This is straightforward. If you have deadlines and contractual obligations that affect when and if you’ll get paid, do these first. Otherwise, decide what projects are most important to you and tackle those sooner than later.

Work on one task at a time. If you want to maximize productivity, schedule time in your day to focus on a specific task. You can still work on multiple projects in a single day, just not at the same time. Give each project its room to breathe.

Set a timer for at least 20 minutes. Flow isn’t automatic and it isn’t guaranteed. Increase your odds of success and give yourself enough time to get there.

Minimize distractions. If you want to increase flow, pull all the stops. Literally. How often do your check your phone? Click the “off” button. How often do you go online to check your social media or “look something up”? Turn off the wi-fi. You get the idea.

Adapt and change your plan as needed. Things don’t always go according to plan. If you find yourself in flow, why let it go to waste? You might want to work on that project longer than planned that day. Likewise, when you find you cannot get into a specific project, there’s no need to torture yourself. It might make sense to pull away for a bit and come back later. Use the time for another writing project.

Be Thankful

If you have to worry about all the writing projects you have to juggle, congratulations! It means you are in or will soon be in high demand. You have a lot of ideas that will carry you well into the future. Keep up the good work.

That said, don’t forget to take a moment to reflect. Be grateful for the opportunities given you, the big and the small. Look back at how far you’ve come. The life of a writer is not always easy but it can be rewarding. Honor your personal success stories and let them drive your flow.

 

Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2016). Flow, the secret to happiness. TED Talks. https://www.ted.com/talks/mihaly_csikszentmihalyi_flow_the_secret_to_happiness

Leroy, S. (2009). Why is it so hard to do my work? The challenge of attention residue when switching between work tasks. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 109(2), 168–181. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2009.04.002

Mark, G, et al. (2005). No task left behind? Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/1054972.1055017

Multitasking: Switching costs. (2022). American Psychological Association. https://www.apa.org/topics/research/multitasking