Make no mistake: There’s no such thing as multitasking. Meaning, it’s impossible to complete two tasks simultaneously; when we multitask, “we’re actually switching very rapidly from one thing to the other,” says Fox. Now, experts generally advise against multitasking for the sake of your brain health (it can be very draining for your mind over time), but as a quick exercise, Fox says it can be quite helpful. Think of it as a HIIT session for your brain.
“Have a timer that’s set for five or 10 minutes,” she says. “And pick a couple of tasks, like writing an email, booking a restaurant…just those kinds of tasks that you know aren’t going to take too long. Have a timer that goes off after a couple of minutes, and as soon as that timer goes off, you have to switch to the next task. Even if you haven’t finished what you’re doing, you switch to the next one, and then when the timer goes off again, you switch to the third one, and then when the timer goes off, you go back to the first one again.”
Again, you only want to do this practice for five or 10 minutes, but the key is to become faster at switching from one task to another. “As a training exercise, that kind of switching can be really effective,” Fox notes.