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2min chapter
1031: Mastering Virtual Communication with Andrew Brodsky
How to Be Awesome at Your Job
The Perils and Realities of Multitasking
This chapter explores the intricacies of multitasking, especially during simple, mindless activities like walking on a treadmill. Through amusing anecdotes, it highlights how some professionals juggle multiple tasks even in unconventional settings, revealing the varying impacts on cognitive function.
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Speaker 2
And you mentioned multitasking being bad news. And my understanding of the research is that if the multitasking is really close to mindless, like I am also walking on a treadmill, or I am also folding laundry, or I am also tidying up some of these items on my desk, like the pen goes in the pen drawer. The cups can be gathered and placed to the side. Like my understanding of these matters is that you're actually not having a cognitive deterioration when that is the case. Is that accurate? I would say it's better for some
Speaker 1
people than others. So there's a personality trait like multitasking ability technically where it works better for some than others. I wouldn't, in some cases, communication can be mindless, but in many cases, the communication is involving something that you're not immediately working on. So your mind has to switch to a different task in the meantime. So it's not like you could be doing your emails while you're simultaneously brainstorming something unrelated altogether. If you're really, really good, maybe you can. But for most of us, it kind of interrupts that process pretty badly. Oh,
Speaker 2
sure. And when I said mindless, I was referring to the secondary activity. The walking of feet on a treadmill is the mindless piece, such that it's quite possible to pay attention well if the secondary activity is not communication related and doesn't take much conscious attention whatsoever. Is that a fair way to think about multitasking? Oh,
Speaker 1
yeah. And one of the, I think, funnier, more absurd examples I get is you'd be surprised how many executives have told me that they email from the toilet, where know, got their smartphone there and they're taking out their communication a little bit less exercise fun than being on the treadmill. But yeah, I mean, I guess you get the job done there. Right. So, yeah. So using those times otherwise, like if you can get some physical activity in, that's not necessarily a bad thing at all.
Speaker 2
Yes.
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