The Busy Syndrome – or is it the 21st Century syndrome? Our go-to response to the question of how are you doing – “ I am so busy” is sometimes seen as a badge of honor. If everyone in your company is constantly saying “I’m busy”, take a step back for a moment and ask “Are we focusing on what really matters?”
At some point, we get so busy that we get to a stage where we are so overwhelmed that we can’t function effectively any more. We live in a fast-paced, technology driven world, leaving us little time to breathe in between work, family, friends, exercise and events and we resort to multi-tasking.
When we attempt to multitask, we don’t actually do more than one activity at once, but quickly switch between them. This switching is exhausting because it uses up oxygenated glucose in the brain, running down the same fuel that is needed to focus on a task.
Gloria Mark, professor in the department of informatics at the University of California, Irvine, says that when people are interrupted, it usually takes 23 minutes and 15 seconds to return to their work, and most people will do two intervening task before going back to their original project. This switching leads to a build up of stress, and leads to high rates of stress. Studies show that multi-tasking can reduce productivity by as much as 40%.
So the question is when employees are very busy, are multi-tasking, take fewer breaks and work longer hours, does it improve organizational performance? Even if your organization is successful, will you be able to sustain a frenzy of activity for a long period?.
According to Dr. Daniel Levitin, professor of behavioral neuroscience at McGill University, “when people get tired at work, they eat more or take more caffeine. Often what you really need in the moment isn’t caffeine, but just a break.” Studies have found that people who take 15 minute breaks every couple of hours end up being more productive, Says Dr Levitin. But these breaks should allow for recharging with some physical activity such as stretches and walking or refocusing with breathing and meditating and not surfing Facebook. Social networks just produce more fractured attention, as you flip from one thing to the next.
As Martin Luther said: “I have so much to do today that I’m going to need to spend three hours in prayer in order to be able to get it all done”