There’s something calming about sipping your morning coffee without scrolling through your phone. We live in a world that sells multitasking as a badge of honour. But what if the real flex is doing one thing at a time? Single-tasking, or the art of focusing entirely on one task before moving to the next, is gaining ground, not merely as a productivity hack but as an essential skill in the digital age. “The human brain isn’t wired for multitasking,” says Sunanda Majumder, PGT Psychology, Shree Thakurdwara Balika Vidyalaya. “We’re not doing multiple things at once; we’re switching between tasks rapidly. Each switch costs us energy and precision. Eventually, something crashes; usually it’s your focus,” adds Majumder.
The myth of multitasking
A 2018 Stanford study suggests that people who frequently multitask had worse attention spans and memory retention. They were also more prone to distractions, a kind of cognitive fog that makes even small decisions feel exhausting. It’s no surprise that singletasking is being embraced as an antidote. Single-tasking, in that sense, isn’t just about doing your work better. It’s about doing it in a way that feels less fragmented and more intentional.
Time-boxing tasks
While many techniques and theories are emerging to replace multitasking, we are still in the process of figuring out the best. One technique that’s rising in popularity is time-boxing. Instead of working from an endless task list, you assign fixed blocks of time to specific tasks. According to a 2013 McKinsey report, workers spend up to 28 per cent of their workweek managing emails and another 19 per cent searching and gathering information, suggesting that nearly half their workweek goes to low-value tasks. McKinsey estimated that by implementing more structured communication and work practices, organisations could boost productivity by up to 25 per cent.
How to start?
The idea of doing just one thing sounds exciting and daunting both at the same time. You might have found yourself switching between YouTube videos or podcasts just before starting something only to get caught up in some thing else. In such a disoriented world, you need to start small to reclaim your focus:
● Set 25-minute focus blocks, or the Pomodoro technique, where you do one thing without any interruptions.
● Schedule distraction windows. Want to scroll Instagram? Cool. Just do it at 5 pm, not every five minutes.
● Use physical cues like headphones, post-its, or a closed door to signal “deep work mode”.
In an age where our attention is constantly being diced, sliced, and sold, single-tasking feels almost spiritual. It’s the slow food of productivity. And maybe it’s the secret to doing more, not by rushing, but by returning to the simplicity of doing one thing well. Turns out, the path to clarity starts with just ‘one’ step.