BUSINESS NEWS LESSONS

Brain Overload: How Multitasking Hijacks

Your Focus and Increases Anxiety
1 Warmer

a. Discuss the questions. Give reasons for your answers.

• Do you (or someone you know) ever do work-related tasks outside of work hours? Why?

• What is the weirdest place or situation you know of someone doing something for work?

• How effective is the technique of doing multiple things at once?

2 Reading for gist

a. Skim the article and choose the statement that best summarises the main idea.

1. Modern workers have successfully learnt how to do multiple tasks at the same time.

2. Doing multiple tasks at the same time creates more problems than it solves.

3. There are some tasks that need focus but many can be done while doing other things.

3 Key words
a. Choose the key words that match the definitions. Check your answers and your understanding of how
the words are used by using them to complete the example sentence immediately after each definition.
Then read the complete article to see how the key words are used in context.

dodge multitask pressed prone

hack overwhelm process toggling
harassed plodder procrastination adjunct

1. describes having very little of something, especially time or money _________________________

Can we have this meeting tomorrow? I’m __________________________ for time today.

2. to have an effect that is too strong for someone to manage __________________________

At the end of the financial year, the amount of work can __________________________ people.

3. feeling upset or annoyed over a long period of time __________________________

Intermediate

He felt __________________________ by the new boss constantly sending emails

and messages.

4. doing multiple things at the same time __________________________

It is a popular idea that women can __________________________ better than men.

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5. delaying something you need to do because it is unpleasant or boring ______________________

He likes to clean his desk before working, but I think that’s just __________________________.

6. something added to a bigger or more important thing __________________________

She took a computer course as a(n) __________________________ to her study of design.

7. someone who works slowly, but without enthusiasm or interest __________________________

If you need this quickly, don’t ask Graham to do it. He’s a real __________________________!

8. to switch between one thing and another, especially on a computer ________________________

I prefer using a keyboard to a mouse when I’m __________________________

between windows.

9. likely to show particular characteristics, especially negative ones __________________________

She is a great salesperson but she is __________________________ to arriving late.

10. a good solution or technique for doing something __________________________

My dad taught me this great __________________________ for when you are cutting onions.

11. to avoid something unpleasant __________________________

The CEO will discuss any topic, but she’ll __________________________ any question
about pay.

12. a series of actions that lead to a result __________________________

Do the proposal early because getting the finance is a long __________________________.

Intermediate

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 BUSINESS NEWS LESSONS

Brain Overload: How Multitasking Hijacks Your

Focus and Increases Anxiety
RESEARCH SHOWS THE HUMAN BRAIN CAN’T COPE WITH DOING TOO MUCH AT ONCE, SO DON’T TAKE THAT
MEETING WHILE YOU DOG WALK
BY CAMILLA CAVENDISH

1 An arresting claim has dropped into my inbox. A 6 Our brains are primarily wired to do one thing at a
quarter of Brits, a new survey says, are sending time. Even walking and talking starts to get tricky
emails from the loo, because they are so pressed for when we get old. This doesn’t mean life has to
time. “Relaxing is a thing of the past”, wails the press be a monotonous sequence. Many workers enjoy
release, which says that a third of respondents are toggling between tasks, according to the Centre for
continuing to work on their phones in the evening — Attention Studies, at King’s College London, and it
“while watching their TV programmes”. Ah. can be positive. Indeed, “interleaving” — switching
between topics then coming back to them later — is
2 With “overwhelm” a feature of modern life, reports all the rage in schools as a proven technique for
such as this imply that harassed workers are exam revision.
forced to multitask to keep on top of ballooning
demands. But when 13 per cent of respondents 7 But growing levels of anxiety mean it’s important
admit to having done a weekly online shop during to turn the conversation to focus. Difficulty
a business meeting, I wonder what’s happened to concentrating is highly correlated with some
Saturday — and to their boss. Have we reached of the anxiety disorders recognised by the
peak procrastination, in which meetings are now a American Psychiatric Association. And we tend to
performative adjunct to real life — walking the dog overestimate our ability to multitask. In fact, those
and cleaning the house, which respondents to this most prone to juggling should do it least: because
survey had done while on work calls? studies show they are more impulsive and have less
executive control.
3 Proponents of multitasking like to remind us that
Archimedes had his eureka moment while in the bath. 8 I fear I fall into that latter group, but I’ve recently
But he was letting his mind wander while he soaked. found two simple hacks. I tried checking email only
He wasn’t sitting there with his camera off, trying not twice a day, but that doesn’t suit my personality
to splash while others warbled on. or my working life. Instead, I’ve gone back to
handwriting a to-do list. The list’s existence releases
4 I recently asked a painter for a quote for some my brain from anguish — as long as the tasks are
decorating. We got chatting while he took a look detailed enough. And using pen and paper seems
at various walls. Since the pandemic, he told me, to imprint it more deeply into my subconscious. This
he’s been flabbergasted by how often he arrives is supported by new research which finds that we
at a house to find grown men sitting on their sofas, make more elaborate brain connections when we
watching sport in the middle of the day while write than when we type. Those connections are
vaguely tapping on their keyboards. This puts a new crucial for memory formation — and this makes it
complexion on “overwork”. imperative to keep children going with handwriting.
5 These days, if you do just one thing at a time you’re 9 I’m also trying out what Cal Newport, in his book
Intermediate

thought to be a plodder. But 20 years of evidence tells Slow Productivity, calls a “pull system”. Essentially,
us that task-switching makes most people stupider. A you focus ruthlessly on your top three projects
University of Utah study from 2006 found that talking and dodge as much as possible of the premature
on the phone while driving is as dangerous as being communication, meetings about meetings and
drunk: it slows reactions. The same team has more messages about meetings which relate to later
recently reported that car “infotainment” systems are projects. Only when you’ve finished one of your top
even more dangerous than phones in terms three do you pull the next one up into that slot.
of distraction.
Continued on next page
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10 We will all have different versions of this system — channels — dubbed heavy media multitaskers by
and I suppose it could just be called “focus”. But researchers at Stanford — display worse memory
following my own version has made me reflect how and lower executive control, even when focusing on
often the distinction gets lost between work that a single job.
actually generates revenue, drives things forward
and has meaning; and work that is process. By which 12 It turns out there are some “supertaskers”, those
I mean the pre-meeting, the compliance training who are able to handle multiple tasks without losing
module, the ever-swelling “reply all” email chain and efficiency. On brain scans, this group exhibit less
so on. The first kind of work is far more satisfying. brain activity, not more, when additional tasks are
The second may well be the kind that office workers added. Unfortunately, only about 2 per cent of
report doing on the dog walk and the toilet — and us are in that category. So it would be kinder to
what my new decorator friend says he’s glad to have ourselves, and our employers, to acknowledge that
less of in his physical job. attention spans are not infinite, and treat them
with care.
11 Such process tasks, I suspect, are more enjoyable
if done to a background of music, texts, scrolling
or intermittently checking the football score. The
problem is that people who switch between multiple

Camilla Cavendish 07 February 2025.

© The Financial Times.
All rights reserved.
Articles republished from the Financial Times.
Intermediate

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4 Understanding the article

a. Are these sentences True or False according to the information in the article? Tick (✓) the
true sentences and rewrite the false ones.

1. Four out of every ten people in the United Kingdom have sent an email from the toilet. _____

______________________________________________________________________

2. Meetings are becoming an extra thing people do at the same time as important

household tasks. _____

______________________________________________________________________

3. Talking on the phone while drinking is as dangerous as driving. _____

______________________________________________________________________

4. Interleaving is an academic technique for studying multiple topics at the same time. _____
______________________________________________________________________

5. People who have a habit of multitasking are the most effective at multitasking. _____

______________________________________________________________________

6. Typing creates less elaborate connections than writing by hand. _____

______________________________________________________________________

7. Focusing on only a small number of projects at a time shows you how much of your work is

connected to those projects. _____

______________________________________________________________________

8. Process tasks are more satisfying and meaningful. _____

______________________________________________________________________
Intermediate

9. People who multitask have a worse memory than those who focus on a single task. _____
______________________________________________________________________

10. 98% of people are not supertaskers. _____

______________________________________________________________________
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 BUSINESS NEWS LESSONS

5 Business language – expressing quantity

a. Write each word or phrase in the correct column of the table.

many some top three

a quarter
a third most thirteen per cent two per cent

Fraction % Expressions of quantity

b. Replace the words in bold with one of the words or phrases from the table.

1. 66% of the people interviewed said they were satisfied with the product but 33% either said they
were unsatisfied or didn’t respond. __________________________

2. Estonia, Switzerland and Ireland were the three best countries in terms of reading scores.
__________________________

3. The election result divided the country: the prime minister got enough votes to win but there were
a large number who voted for the other party. __________________________

4. The majority of the shareholders want the company to change strategy so the company is
changing its policies. __________________________

5. Among the sales team, a large number are happy with the new software, a few hate it and several
see no significant difference. __________________________

6 Discussion

a. Discuss these questions.

1. In your opinion, how common is multitasking in everyday work life?

Intermediate

2. Has the increase of people working from home made multitasking more or less common?

3. How significant is the problem of people not focusing on their work?

4. What ways do you know to help improve focus and increase productivity?
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7 Wider business theme – A case study: evaluating productivity hacks

a. You are going to carry out a survey on popular productivity hacks. You will then test out one of
these hacks and present its effectiveness to the class. Work through the steps of this task with
a partner.

1. Brainstorm or research a list of popular productivity hacks. Examples include:

• the Pomodoro technique,

• checking email only twice a day,

• handwriting a to-do list,

• the pull system, etc.

2. Survey your classmates on their experience with or opinion on these productivity hacks. Try to
evaluate the different productivity hacks based on the responses. Areas to ask questions
about include:

• how easy the hack is to do

• how much the hack could help people to focus or be productive

• how much the hack could change the way they work

• what changes they might make to the hack

3. Decide which of the hacks is the most effective and use it for a period of time, e.g. a week. Keep a
record of your observations as you try using the hack.

4. At the end of the period of time, create a presentation in which you explain:

• why you chose the hack

• how the hack works

• what effect the hack had on your focus or productivity

Intermediate

5. Present your hack to the class and compare your findings with others.

Useful language

Most / some / a few of our classmates …

What I most noticed was … / The biggest change was …

What I would recommend is …

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