Russell Poldrack, an American psychologist, neuroscientist & renowned psychology professor at Stanford University, says:

During Multi-tasking, we rely on our Basal Ganglia. It's a cluster of neurons present in the brain. It's involved in learning various skills and the formation of habits.

Basal Ganglia is primarily responsible for our motor control so, it helps us function smoothly on a day-to-day basis.

But, when we encode information using enhanced focus, the Hippocampus gets activated. The Hippocampus plays a critical role in the formation, organization & storing of new memories. It also helps connect certain emotions & sensations to a particular memory.

When we multi-task, our focus is on many things at a time. So naturally, we pay attention only to the highlights of what we are doing & often forget to learn in-depth about all the tasks.

If we don't encode the lessons correctly, we gather less knowledge. It affects our productivity & the overall quality of the tasks performed.

However, we can learn to classify & team up our tasks mindfully, instead of just trying to multi-task without achieving much.

For example, when I go for my evening walks, I listen to audiobooks.

I prefer folding clothes or chopping vegetables while watching TV.

When it comes to office work, I team up these two tasks- sending broadcast messages (bulk typed messages) as I continue to follow up with prospective clients.

During a training session, as I give exercises to the participants, I record some good chunks of my training. I later process these videos for marketing. That's how I save time and use it efficiently instead of sitting idle.

However, it is valuable to understand that we can't mix two thinking tasks. A beneficial way is to club an act that needs focus with a practice, which is habitual.

Now it's your turn to tell me what tasks you can pair up together to save time and enhance your productivity?

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