Is Multitasking good for you?

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Lately I have been having a great conversation with few of you on what were the top 5 qualities of the successful event manager. Although not in the Top 5, a lot of you named multitasking.

I agree. Even if you are involved with planning a dinner with friends, tasks will include collecting RSVPs, arranging food and drinks, selecting the music for the night, etc,. Most of the times you will find yourself doing few of the above at the same time.

If you work with events you have to multiply that by a hundred.

Nonetheless, I have to admit that in the back of my mind I am not 100% sure that I am being productive when holding 2 phones, replying to an email and making online payments at the same time.

Therefore, I went out and did some research about this interesting subject.

WebMd explains that

…we consistently perform better and faster when tasks are done successively, rather than all at once

That hurts right, looks like awful truth though.

Bad news are not over…

I kept researching and stumbled upon the difference between multitasking and continuous partial attention as per the article of the Huffington Post

Continuous partial attention and multi-tasking are two different attention strategies, motivated by different impulses. When we multi-task, we are motivated by a desire to be more productive and more efficient. Each activity has the same priority - we eat lunch AND file papers. [...] In the case of continuous partial attention, we’re motivated by a desire not to miss anything. There’s a kind of vigilance that is not characteristic of multi-tasking.

Ouch…

The New York Times tells us that multitasking decreases our productivity and it shares some tips as well:

Check e-mail messages once an hour, at most. Listening to soothing background music while studying may improve concentration. But other distractions - most songs with lyrics, instant messaging, television shows - hamper performance. Driving while talking on a cellphone, even with a hands-free headset, is a bad idea.

What about you? Are you still convinced to define yourself as multitasker in your resume?