Multitasking (and the Damage it Leaves Behind)
You have a lot on your plate. You have your hands in so many pots. Every project has a different deadlines, so multitasking is necessary to get everything done on time. WRONG. You are actually hurting your productivity and training your brain to function worse!  
The Definition
Many people think of multitasking as doing multiple things at once, but that's actually only one form of multitasking. According to Kendra Cherry, author, educational consultant, and psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, the three forms of multitasking are :

  1. performing two or more tasks simultaneously,
  2. switching back and forth from one thing to another, and
  3. performing a number of tasks in rapid succession.
The Damage
Kendra Cherry describes research by Meyer, Evans and Rubinstein. In their research, they determined that, by multitasking, you actually reduce your productivity by up to 40% because of the steps your brain has to take to switch between tasks.

Cherry also writes about other research conducted by Clifford Nass, a Stanford University researcher. Nass discovered that people who multitask a lot are actually worse at switching between tasks effectively and efficiently. Even when they were asked to only work on one task, their brains were less effective and less organized, thus reducing their efficiency and productivity.
Apply the FIVE! 
So what can you do to help your brain recover from the damages of multitasking? How should you approach a lot of different projects without causing damage to your productivity and brain function? Nass has two suggestions:

  1. Only juggle two tasks at a time.
  2. Work on one thing for at least 20 minutes before you switch to something else.
Learn How Evans Thrives!
What better way to motivate you to  thrive than to hear about REAL people making it happen? And what better way to learn about Evans Incorporated than to make those real people Evans employees?!

Meet Kaitlin Hurley!

As a full-time student, intern at Evans Incorporated, owner of a horse grooming business, team mate on the George Mason University Equestrian Team, horse owner, horse rescue volunteer, and dedicated girlfriend, you can say I’m busy, but I like it that way! It gets a little trying sometimes, but I also find it gratifying. It keeps me on my toes, to say the least!
Planning, for me, is the most important thing. I look at my schedule at the end of the week to start planning my work for the next week. I’ll even go as far as scheduling in times for certain things, including eating. Eating is my “me” time; however, I will make time to watch Game of Thrones and Grey’s Anatomy, also! I like to focus on one thing at a time, like this Thrive suggests, in small chunks, so I’ll do an hour or two of a few things every day so I’m not doing a whole day of one thing and getting sick of it.
Plus, if I do a little of everything every day, I get to “check a lot of boxes” on my to-do list, which is the best feeling of all!
Until Next Time...
The Evans Thrive Team
(Nicole, Kaitlin, Laura, Bob, Sean and Russ)
    (This image was adapted from a commonly shared internet image.)