If you’re anything like me, you probably have a to-do list that’s as long as your arm and still growing. And you might think that the answer to getting everything done is multitasking. But, it’s an established fact that multitasking can cause more harm than good. It’s a huge drain on both your creativity and your concentration.

Here are 3 reasons multitasking hurts your creativity…

Reason #1 – Multitasking stops your thought flow

Letting your thoughts flow and see what happens is pretty much a requirement for being creative. When you try and multitask to get more done, you don’t really allow your thoughts to flow very deeply. While you could probably do two “grunt work” type tasks that don’t take a lot of thought when you’re multitasking, getting yourself into the thought flow you need to actually be creative is pretty much impossible.

Reason #2 – Multitasking makes it hard to enjoy the process

I don’t know about you, but the whole reason I have a creative business is to be able to do the things I love and get paid for them. Sure, there will always be tasks or tedious things that are not enjoyable all the time, but that doesn’t mean you can’t do something to change it and make it more enjoyable for you. But, the more things you try and cram into a day through multitasking, the less you are going to enjoy the process of actually creating.

Reason #3 – Your brain does not multitask, it switches tasks

According to research by the American Psychological Association, what we call multitasking is actually you switching your attention between different activities. (source)

This creates a “switch cost” that makes you more tired, and more prone to mistakes. As the article continues, “…every time you switch your attention, you have to reorient to that new activity, that new thing you’re paying attention to, and it takes a little bit of time.” (source)

Final Thoughts

The outcome of all of this is that your creativity and your concentration both suffer when you attempt to do too many things at once. Your creativity takes the biggest hit because it’s meant to be something that you love doing. When your thought flow is frequently interrupted by switch costs and you don’t enjoy your processes because of it, that makes it very hard to find the joy in actually using your creative energy.

And in a creative business like ours, if we’re so tired from multitasking that we can’t create unique products and content, then we don’t really have a business.