Is Multi-tasking Overrated?

The ability to take on more than on project at a time has long been hailed in both the professional and personal arenas as the mark of greatness and the “Holy Grail” of for any CEO on the rise. In fact, nearly 90% of all job descriptions speak in one form or another for the need to attend to multiple tasks simultaneously with a keen attention to detail…Translation, “Do everything and don’t make any mistakes!”

Realizing success is an important goal and recognizing you have achieved it perhaps more important. So as you multi-task your day away, what about the axiom we have all probably heard and passed down from generation to generation; across the boardroom table as well as the family dinner table… “A jack of all trades and a master of none!”

Is there a difference? Is it realistic to believe and demand that we can and will in fact “do it all” and do it with grace, ease and PERFECTION?

Perfection-A slippery slope at best, as it implies a state of being that is free of imperfection. But in this “state,” which for many is a marked by extreme anxiety, where is that delicious “margin of error” that has engendered some of the greatest innovations?

Did Einstein discover the Theory of Relativity while emailing his other “Nobel Prize hopefuls”, instant messaging his family and friends and balancing his check book?

In a recent interview with several CEO’s and C level executives I posed the question…

“Multi-tasking or Multi madness” the answer was not what you might expect. My favorite?

“The pages of so many of the major business magazines are graced with stories regarding the need for a world/life balance and this is a positive change, but I am still not experiencing nor are my peers, feeling as if the iron grip of the multi-tasking monster will be loosening up any time soon”

---D.--- Partner in one of the largest law-firms in the U.S

Clearly, this is not a challenge faced only by those in the upper ecillons of business as it impacts people up and down the corporate ladder.

In the end, the question is both a personal and professional one as most have already figured out that when we “live to work” rather than feel trapped in our jobs and are simply “working to live,” we show remarkable opportunity for realizing the kind of success we deserve and dream of.

Multi-tasker or multi-faceted? Who are you and what do you think?