The Leader Assistant Podcast with Jeremy Burrows

#362: Annie Croner on Multitasking vs Multitracking

• Jeremy Burrows • Episode 362

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Annie Croner is the founder and CEO of Whole Assistant, an online platform & community, formed to provide a positive place where assistants can go to transform their lives and level up their careers.

In this spotlight episode of Annie's show, The Whole Assistant Podcast, she talks about multitasking vs multitracking.

Show Notes -> leaderassistant.com/362

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Jeremy:

Hey friends, it's Jeremy Burrows, host of the Leader Assistant Podcast. Thanks for tuning in. Today I'm excited to highlight an episode from my friend Annie Croner's podcast called Whole Assistant. And I really think you should check out her show at WholeAssistant.com or look it up on your favorite podcast platform. Again, Annie Croner's podcast called Whole Assistant. Today I am spotlighting one of Annie's episodes from the Whole Assistant podcast, and I'm excited to spotlight several episodes over the coming months. So I hope you enjoy it, and I hope you check out wholeassistant.com to learn more about Annie and her great podcast. Now you can buy the Kindle ebook version of the Leader Assistant Workbook on Amazon, or you can go to LeaderAssistantbook.com and get a printable PDF version of the workbook. This version has all the space and margin in between the questions that you can write your own answers and take notes with. So it's a great way to print it out and keep track of your discussion and study guide notes. Again, go to leaderassistantbook.com and click on workbook to check out the Leader Assistant Workbook.

Annie:

I'm going to be sharing a concept I've developed called multi-tracking. And I'm going to share how this is different than multitasking. So today that's what we're going to be talking about. We're going to be talking about multitasking versus multi-tracking. I think a lot of us, when we say multitasking, we may mean that we're multitracking. And I think that for a lot of us, we may be hanging on to old verbiage, old ways of describing things that are no longer serving us. I really want to create an intention around the verbiage that we use because especially when it comes to multitasking, the world is on to us, guys. Science states that there's no such thing as multitasking. So what is really happening when we multitask, I'm going to share that in just a minute. But before I do, for those of you who are really, really tied to this idea of being an excellent multitasker, I hate to break it to you. Studies have shown that multitasking is hugely, hugely detrimental to our productivity. In fact, I'm going to link to an article in the show notes that aptly sums it up. But for the sake of this episode, I'm always fascinated because for some reason, even though there's plenty of science to back that multitasking is bad for us and there's more coming out every day. I started studying multitasking about five or six years ago. And the science behind multitasking being detrimental, the body of evidence just keeps growing. But for some reason, most of us feel like we're the exception to the rule. It's kind of like texting while you're driving. We all know it's terrible. We judge other people who sit through lights or cause accidents as a result of being on their phones. But then we think that we're the exception to the rule when it comes to texting while we're driving. Like we think that, oh, well, it's terrible for everyone else to do, but I do need to get a hold of my husband. So I'm just gonna pop him a quick text, right? No, no, no, no, no. I have news for you. You're not the exception to the texting while driving rule. And you're also not the exception to the multitasking in the name of productivity rule as well. Now, look, I understand that multitasking can run deep in terms of our identity. I remember touting my mad multitasking skills at job interviews and things like that. And now I cringe a little bit because I think the world is on to us now. I think that the world knows that multitasking is terrible for us and our productivity. But back in the day, multitasking was the name of the game in terms of leveling up as an assistant. And if you couldn't manage multiple things and you couldn't be an assistant, but there again, this is where we need an update in language. And I'm gonna get to that in a minute here. But first, I'm gonna kind of break down what multitasking actually is. So multitasking is switching between tasks. So really, multitasking is switch tasking. So there's several downsides to this. If you've got like several screens up and you're working on several projects at a time and your email's going off and your phone's going off and your attention is constantly being pulled, the downside from my perspective is that that trains your brain to be distracted. So when we do stop the dings and we close out of the inbox and we do all the things, when we finally allow our brains to focus, our brains have been trained to be distracted. So of course, your brain is gonna want to go check out that website. Your brain is gonna want to go check out like cat videos on YouTube. Your brain is gonna wanna go check out that thing that you heard your cousin's aunt's mother talk about. So that is the first kind of downside to believing in your capability as a strong multitasker, is that you're literally training your brain to be distracted. And distracted brains make mistakes, and they're inefficient and ineffective at producing high quality work effectively and like dominating when it comes to productivity. Okay, another downside to this belief in multitasking is that you make frequent mistakes. I mentioned this just a minute ago. Because your brain is switching between so many different things, your brain can't keep up. And so, of course, it's gonna make mistakes. And this is the clincher for me when it comes to productivity is that studies have actually shown that up to 40% of your productive working time will be spent switching between tasks, which means that while your brain is working fast, that multitasking actually slows you down. It actually makes you work slower. Think about this, guys. Up to 40% of your productive time. So if you spend eight hours of your day at work, that means like three hours of that time is spent switching back and forth between tasks instead of actually executing on things that you know need to get done. So that is my case for multitasking and for avoiding multitasking and for allowing yourself the space and time to focus and to implement other productivity strategies that will actually serve you. So, what is multi-tracking? Well, as I mentioned before, multi-tracking is a term that as far as I know, I came up with. I did a Google search on it. Like, I wonder if anybody's ever thought about this concept of multitracking. I don't think anybody has from my just rudimentary Google search, but multi-tracking is keeping track of all the things, knowing where any project is at at the drop of a hat. So you'll know where all the projects are at, where all the one-off tasks are at, where all your workflows are at, or where things are at in your workflows, your processes, your priorities. I will tell you the secret to success when it comes to multi-tracking. The secret to success when it comes to multitracking is your task management system. Now, by task management system, I do not mean your email. I do not mean sticky notes. I do not mean Slack or Messenger. I do not mean your handwritten notepad. By task management system, what I mean is a well-thought out, well-executed, digital, centralized task tracking system all in one place. Now, you can certainly email tasks to your task tracking system. Um, this the task tracking system that I like to utilize is called Trello. Uh, and I actually have a training free on my website, so please check that out about how to set up your Trello board and the best way that executive assistants can utilize and leverage Trello. Please check that out. You can actually email things to your board. You can actually create recurring tasks for yourself. And I like to do this annually. So for things like taxes and things like that, I was also a personal assistant in addition to being an executive assistant. So I would often put things like Valentine's Day on my master to-do list on Trello so that I knew on January 15th that I needed to touch base with my executive about Valentine's Day a month before so that we could make accommodations for that instead of the week of, right? Instead of trying to run around finding a place the week of so you can create recurring tasks. I actually had a task tracking system that worked for me. And what is so glorious about having a task tracking system that is not your inbox or is not diasporic, meaning it's not all over the place. I don't have a million different lists in a million different locations, is that I could see at a glance everything all in one place. I could see what was in a holding pattern. I could see my priorities for the day. I could see potential things coming down the pipeline that I would add to my list for next week, right? You can see everything all in one place. Multi-tracking will kick multitasking's butt any day, all day, because you actually can prioritize effectively and then allow your brain to focus to execute. So there's another reason why I strongly encourage a project or task tracking system that isn't tied to your email. So it's to keep out of your inbox during non-working hours. I cannot tell you how many times something hit my head as I'm relaxing at the end of my day, as I'm watching television with my partner next to me on the couch and be like, oh my gosh, because the brain at rest also has clarity, right? So, like, of course, things are gonna come up when you're off. That's natural and normal. But what was so great about having a task tracking system that was aside from my email inbox, it was that when I reached for my phone, I could just open up my Trello app and add it to my tasks for the next day, just as something as a reminder for the next day. And then when I got to the office the next day, I could prioritize and reprioritize accordingly. A great another feature about Trello is that you can drag and drop things. So it's easy to prioritize and reprioritize, as we all know, like managing shifting priorities is a big thing when it comes to us as assistants because it's always shifting. So what I loved about this is that it didn't require me, my task tracking system being outside of my inbox didn't require me to get in my email to send myself an email. And then you know what happens then. Then you are responding to email after hours, and then you're training people that you're gonna respond to their emails after hours, and then and then you're always, always working, right? Then you're not setting up the boundaries that you need to set up for yourselves, or you're not holding them anyway. So that is a kind of a key benefit to having a task tracking system separate from your inbox. So, other thoughts about this for me, and I want you to maybe consider adopting one of these thoughts yourself. So when I say nobody can multitask because it's not really a thing, I'm not saying that one can't multitrack. I think it's totally possible to keep track of all the things without trying to do all the things all at once. And I'm also not saying that you can't pivot with shifting priorities or that you're not flexible. And I think that I'm getting at the crux of it here. I think that when we say that we're excellent multitaskers, what we really mean is that we can pivot on a dime and that we're super flexible and accommodating. So I'm not saying that you can't pivot with shifting priorities or that you're not flexible when I say that you can't multitask. All I'm saying is that you can't do all the things all at once or do it, do them effectively. So I just want to be very clear with what I'm saying here and what I'm not saying here. I'm not saying that you can't be flexible, that you have to be rigid, that you can't manage where everything is at all the time. What I am saying is that in order to actually produce high-quality work, in order to actually strategically partner with your executive, in order to actually utilize that 40% of your time switching between tasks, we're gonna have to get super strategic with how we view our time. And we're also gonna have to implement those systems for our long-term success. So I think that there are a couple key mindset shifts that I would like us all to grab onto, in addition to the fact that we can shift up with the priorities and that we are flexible, is we need to all stop bragging about our multitasking capabilities. It's just not a good look, guys. It's just not a good look. It's becoming more and more common knowledge in mainstream society that multitasking is hugely detrimental not only to our productivity, but our cognitive function. If you want to show up sharp on the job and you want people to think that you're sharp, stop it. Stop toting your multitasking capabilities. Or sorry, touting your multitasking capabilities. And as I gave in the example with texting and driving, you're not the exception to this rule. So that is one key mindset shift that I would like us all to make. And here are some alternative boasting points that I think may be helpful for you to like latch on to instead of I'm an excellent most multitasker. And probably what you really mean to say anyway is I pivot exceptionally well. So that's a boasting point for you to use, especially in a job interview. I pivot exceptionally well. I give myself space to focus in order to produce excellent work. I know my priorities and am flexible and in order to in order to complete them. I like this one. I know my priorities and am flexible in order to like bring in new work or in order to complete the priorities I have. I acknowledge shifting priorities. Here's another one. My ability to produce high quality work is reliant on the systems I create, my ability to reprioritize, and I'll say adapt again. My ability to reprioritize and adapt, and my ability to focus. So my ability to produce high-quality work is reliant upon the systems I create, my ability to reprioritize, and my ability to focus. And I love this one too. I don't have to look busy or be frantic in order to achieve higher output. I think a lot of us have this sneaky underlying belief we have to be frantic in order to produce high quality, high output work. In order to be a high functioning human who crushes it and shows up like a boss at her job, we have to look frantic or be frantic. So not true. The people who have totally embraced their badass reasons, executive assistants who are producing high quality work at higher rates of output are less frantic because they create more focus for themselves. It's such a rookie mistake if you believe otherwise.

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Jeremy Burrows

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