Jim Loehr Quotes

I think that we get so distracted with our smartphones... It takes your body and your brain time to switch between tasks. If we can focus on what we're doing, we'll be more productive at that task.

Experts say you can't concentrate on more than one task at a time.

I think people who multitask pay a huge price. They think they're being extra productive, and I think when you multitask so much you don't have time to think about anything deeply, you are giving the world an advantage you shouldn't do, and practically everybody is drifting into that mistake.

Even though we think we're getting a lot done, ironically, multitasking makes us demonstrably less efficient.

Multitasking divides your attention and leads to confusion and weakened focus.

Task switching is hard because we do not control what is on our mind. Despite our efforts, the original task continues to occupy our mental bandwidth. Although we can control where our time goes, we cannot fully control how our bandwidth is allocated.

Multi-tasking arises out of distraction itself.

If you try to multitask in the classic sense of doing two things at once, what you end up doing is quasi-tasking. It's like being with children. You have to give it your full attention for however much time you have, and then you have to give something else your full attention.

You wouldn't read 'Anna Karenina' and try to work on the computer at the same time, would you?

In effect, dividing your attention means that neither (or none) of the things you're working on is really getting the full effect of your intelligence, and that it in the end takes you longer than it would if you did one thing at a time.

Most of us can easily do two things at once; what's all but impossible is to do one thing at once.

You can't work on 15 problems at the same time.

I'll always be working on five things at once, usually with those documents open at the same time because if I get stuck somewhere I'll jump over to something else. That's how my head has always worked.

No more than a surgeon can operate while tweeting can you reach your potential with one ear in, one ear out. You actually have to reacquaint yourself with concentration. We all do.

I'm not very good at multi-tasking. Most people aren't, but they think they are. The mind is really better when you're really focused on one thing.

While you're writing, you can't concentrate nearly as well on what the speaker is saying.

It's hard to watch something go on and be talking at the same time.

It's better to do one thing at a time and give your full concentration.

I multitask and always have the TV on in the background. If I need to focus, I generally have to turn off the TV.

I can multitask very well. But I know exactly when to block off anything coming in from the outside and just stay focused on the film.

Multi-taskers often think they are like gym rats, bulking up their ability to juggle tasks, when in fact they are like alcoholics, degrading their abilities through over-consumption.

I do think to some extent multitasking is a way of fooling ourselves that we're being exceptionally efficient.

I have to always make sure I don't stay in one place and spend too much time one subject. I have my wife tell me [through an earpiece], "Come back! You're taking too long on that subject." I need to be reeled in.

Don't think to hunt two hares with one dog.

If someone around you is multitasking, you pick up distraction like second-hand smoke.