April 23, 2025
The Multitask Myth — Why Your Brain Needs a Single-Track Mind
Multitasking isn't the productivity superpower we think it is; science shows it's actually draining our focus and setting us up for mistakes. This episode explores why single-tasking with the 25-5 focus block system helps your brain work the way it was designed, resulting in better work quality and more energy.
• Multitasking originated as a computer term from IBM in 1965, never intended for human brains
• Only 2% of people are true "supertaskers" - the rest of us are task-switching at great cognitive cost
• Task-switching consumes 40% of productivity time, equivalent to losing 16 weeks of work annually
• The 25-5 focus block system: 25 minutes of laser-focused work followed by 5-minute strategic breaks
• This system creates clarity, focuses intention, and preserves energy throughout the workday
• ChatGPT can help structure single-task workdays and create context preservation notes
• Common multitasking mishaps include sending messages to the wrong place and presentation errors
Try just one hour a day using the 25-5 focus block system: one priority, no distractions, full presence. Let your brain breathe and see what changes.
00:00 - The Multitasking Myth Revealed
02:09 - The Science Behind Task Switching
03:55 - The 25-5 Focus Block System
06:39 - AI Tools for Single-Tasking
07:52 - Multitasking Mishaps in Action
09:03 - Weekly Challenge and Conclusion
WEBVTT
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Update that dashboard, join the privacy call, respond to the benefits, inquiry, prep for that employee relations meeting Hmm, sound familiar.
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It's the modern workday, especially in human resources.
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You're pulled in five directions before your second cup of coffee.
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Meetings, messages, documents, decisions all demanding attention right now.
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And somewhere in that chaos we start to believe that doing everything at once is the only way to keep up.
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But here's the truth.
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Multitasking isn't helping you win the day.
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It's silently draining your focus and setting you up for mistakes.
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Today, we're pulling back the curtain on the multitask myth and exploring what happens when you give your brain permission to work the way it was actually designed.
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This is the Midweek Mindshift.
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Welcome to the Midweek Mindshift, the podcast where, every Wednesday, we outsmart our week together.
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I'm Bill McMenamin, longtime HR leader turned mindset shifter, and if there's one thing I've learned over the years, it's this Trying to do it all at once usually means doing nothing at all.
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Multitasking it's not just expected, it's practically glorified, especially in human resources.
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You know the drill You're deep in a performance review, glancing at urgent emails, mentally prepping for the next leadership sync and updating compliance documentation.
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In between, we wear multitasking like a badge of honor.
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But what if I told you this so-called superpower is actually kryptonite.
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Today we're unpacking why your brain was never built to multitask, why the smartest leaders I've worked with intentionally don't, and how a simple shift to single tasking can and live.
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Let's kick off with a trivia nugget that might surprise you.
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The word multitasking wasn't even meant for people.
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It was coined in 1965 by IBM to describe the capabilities of the new system 360 computer, yep computers.
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But somewhere along the way we borrowed the term and decided our human brain should keep up.
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Science disagrees.
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A study out of Stanford found that only 2% of people are supertaskers, those rare individuals who can handle multiple complex tasks without performance drop-off.
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The other 98% we're not multitasking, we're task switching.
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And it's expensive how expensive.
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Research shows that switching between tasks can eat up 40% of your productivity time.
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That's the equivalent of losing 16 weeks of work every year.
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And here's the kicker Chronic multitasking actually rewires your brain to crave distraction.
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We're not sharpening our skills, we're feeding a mental noise machine.
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Quick breather, if this episode is hitting home and you've caught yourself juggling five things, every Wednesday we drop new episodes designed to help you work smarter, breathe deeper and stop letting your to-do list run the show.
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And hey, if someone in your world is drowning in distraction or mistaking chaos for productivity, share this with them.
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No judgment, we've all been there.
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We're not here to multitask our way through life.
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We're here to do what matters, one focused step at a time.
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All right, let's get back to it.
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I'll be honest.
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Until recently, I thought productivity just meant pushing harder, longer hours, more checklists, less breathing room.
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But then I tried something that genuinely shifted how I work the 25-5 focus block system.
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I had heard it before, variations of it are often tied to the Pomodoro technique, but I never gave it a real shot.
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Then, a few weeks ago, after one too many days of back-to-back team calls and half-finished tasks, I decided to run an experiment.
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Here's how it works 25 minutes of laser-focused, single-task work, followed by a five-minute break to reset, email, check, stretch, refill the coffee, repeat for four cycles, then take a longer break.
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What I didn't expect was how immediate the impact would be.
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First, it created clarity.
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I wasn't bouncing between Teams, messages, spreadsheets and emails.
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I was doing one thing really well.
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Second, it focused intention Instead of just working for hours on end.
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I had to decide what's the one thing I'm going to focus on right now.
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And third and this one really surprised me.
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I actually had more energy at the end of the day.
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I wasn't fried from the constant context switching.
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My brain had room to breathe.
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The science backs it up too.
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Research shows that focused work in short intervals boosts productivity and reduces mental fatigue.
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Those five-minute breaks they're not lost time, they're strategic resets that help your prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain responsible for complex decision-making.
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It helps it recover and recharge.
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Here's the key no interruptions during the 25, not even from your boss's ping and yes, that was a tough one for the first few times.
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I've been using this system ever since for things like prepping podcast outlines, tackling HR strategy documents and even sorting through complex decisions, and every time I feel more present and less reactive.
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It's not magic, but it feels like it when your brain clicks into that deep focus groove.
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If you've been feeling scattered or stuck in task switching mode, give the 25-5 method a try.
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Just for one hour, one priority, no distractions, full presence.
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You might be shocked at how much you actually get done and how good it feels.
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And how good it feels Now.
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Let's bring in some backup AI.
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I've been using ChatGPT to help structure my single-task workday.
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Here's one of my go-to prompts.
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Create a schedule that groups similar HR tasks together, using 25-minute focus blocks and 5-minute breaks.
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Include transition activities between different types of work Tasks.
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Include employee relations, compliance policies and benefits.
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The results Surprisingly human.
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It suggested things like start your day with policy reviews when your analytical brain is fresh.
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Group emotionally heavy ER meetings together to avoid tone-switching fatigue.
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Add buffer activities like a short walk or music break between work blocks.
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And here's a killer tip Ask ChatGBT to generate context preservation notes.
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Those are two to three quick bullets you can write at the end of each focus block so when you return later you can pick up right where you left off.
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It's like leaving breadcrumbs for your future brain, only smarter.
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We've all had those multitasking moments that come back to bite us, sometimes in hilarious, sometimes in cringeworthy ways.
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You know the ones.
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You're in a Teams meeting while replying to emails and you accidentally drop your response into the meeting chat instead of the email thread.
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Or you copy and paste a report only to realize it includes placeholder text like insert compelling stat here.
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Or you give a presentation on boosting engagement and one slide mysteriously features last year's dental plan benefits.
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And then there's the classic sorry, I was on mute not because you were being thoughtful, but because you were also writing up performance notes and didn't realize it was your turn to talk.
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We laugh about it later, but in the moment it's not so funny.
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Most of these slip-ups don't come from incompetence.
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They come from overload, from doing too much too fast, without enough attention to any one thing.
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These are symptoms of the multitasking myth in action and they're more common than we'd like to admit.
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Your brain's a spotlight, not a floodlight.
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Focus it and it sharpens.
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Scatter it and everything dims.
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So here's your mind shift challenge for the week.
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Try just one hour a day using the 25-5 focus block system One priority, no distractions, full presence.
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Let your brain breathe and see what changes.
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Next Wednesday we're flipping the script on productivity with the energy equation.
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Why time management is Really Energy Management.
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Until then, keep shifting those mindsets and maybe close a few tabs.
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I'm Bill McManaman and I appreciate you bringing me into your world.
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Cheers till next time, thank you.
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