The Multitasking Trap That Hurts Productivity: Why You Always Feel Tired at Work

Written By Hun Kim

Last updated 4 months ago

The daily life of modern office workers is accompanied by endless notification sounds. Over 20 Slack channels, different email labels for each client, JIRA project channels created on the fly... and on top of that, 4 new channels added just in the past two weeks. It feels like becoming a call center operator who has to manage dozens of conversations simultaneously.

Each message is like a file folder piling up on your desk. A file folder whose contents remain unknown. Opening it right away might reveal an urgent problem that needs solving all day, sharp feedback from your boss, or perhaps completely unimportant small talk. This uncertainty creates anxiety about missing something important, leading to constant checking of new messages.

The Dilemma of Complex Thinking and Multitasking

For people whose work requires complex thinking and creative problem-solving such as product planning, design conceptualization, or strategy development—focus is more important than anything else. However, we often think of multitasking as "the ability to handle multiple tasks simultaneously" and take pride in it.

The problem is that what we're actually doing is simply rapid switching between tasks, and in this process, work efficiency and immersion drop significantly.

The Hidden Costs of Multitasking

While it may appear that we're handling multiple tasks simultaneously, the reality is that the quality of each task deteriorates and overall productivity decreases.

Particularly when switching between tasks frequently, attention residue becomes a major problem. This refers to the attention that remains stuck when moving from one task to another, as 100% of our attention doesn't follow along. When our mind, which was immersed in one task, switches to another, the thoughts or tension from the previous task don't completely disappear but linger. This leads to decreased cognitive ability and increased fatigue, and it takes a long time for this state to dissipate.

A typical example is when you're writing a report and check your email - the email content keeps circling in your mind, so even when you return to the report, your concentration is disrupted.

The Long Aftermath of Brief Interruptions

Research shows that even interruptions lasting just a few seconds require considerable time to return to the original task and recover complete focus. Moreover, modern people unconsciously create these interruptions for themselves.

Once interrupted, the following chain reaction occurs:

  1. Immediate loss of concentration

  2. Temporary forgetting of work context

  3. Time required to resume work

  4. Additional time needed to return to complete immersion

  5. Increased stress and further decreased concentration

The Real Cause of Fatigue: Not Workload, but Difficulty in Task Scheduling (Context Switching)

Many people think they're tired because of excessive workload, but what actually causes fatigue might be frequent context switching.

For example, famous blogger Maria Popova wrote more than three articles daily and posted 50 tweets while not feeling significantly tired relative to her workload. In contrast, office workers who constantly switch between checking notifications here and there throughout the day easily get exhausted even with lighter workloads.

The Era When Focus Became a Superpower

Just a few decades ago, deep focus was a general ability that any office worker was expected to possess. In the era before email and messengers, work was conducted through relatively limited channels, so there were fewer distracting elements unless it was a phone call or face-to-face meeting.

However, as the digital environment has developed, instant messages and endless notifications scatter our attention in all directions. Now, people who can focus without interruption for more than 2 hours have become as rare as superheroes.

New Challenges of the Digital Age

Social media and various digital platforms are intentionally designed to capture and hold our attention. FOMO (Fear of Missing Out), infinite scrolling, notification messages, and dopamine reward systems constantly pull us into screens.

Prolonged exposure to such environments leads to a state of self-imposed cognitive decline.

Signs of Cognitive Decline

  • Decreased short-term memory

  • Shortened attention span

  • Reduced decision-making ability

  • Decreased creative thinking ability

  • Weakened emotional regulation ability

Integrated Work Management

The most important keyword here is "integration." As modern work becomes increasingly digitized and distributed across multiple platforms, the anxiety of "where did I write that down?" is growing.

Therefore, the real solution is to gather work, schedules, and related materials in one space. When you organize scattered information—calendars, to-dos, notes, and meeting schedules - into one system, there's no need to switch between multiple apps. The biggest advantage here is that context switching is noticeably reduced.

For example, if you open your calendar to check meeting schedules, then move to another app to write related notes, and then switch tools again to update your to-do list, your concentration gets broken each time. However, using an integrated environment allows you to handle all these processes in one flow.

This reduces the clicks and mental reorganization time needed for tool switching, and significantly decreases the time and energy wasted wandering around thinking "where did I write that down?" Ultimately, unnecessary searching and switching to find needed information is drastically reduced, creating an environment where you can fully immerse in core work.

1. Start by Integrating To-dos

As the simplest example, gather to-dos scattered across multiple platforms into one task management tool.

You need to view "tasks to do someday" and "tasks to do right now" from the same perspective to clearly set priorities.

2. Organize Notes and Meeting Management in the Same Flow

One of the moments that causes the biggest context switch during work is "organizing content after meetings."

After a meeting ends, moving to a separate document or note app to write meeting minutes, then extracting action items in the task management tool again is an unnecessary transition in itself.

But what if you could open meeting notes directly from the calendar where the meeting was already scheduled and create action items in real-time? As soon as the meeting ends, tasks to be done are registered and connected to the meeting notes, so there's no need to wonder "what did we say back then?" later.

3. Advantages of a System Where Schedules, Notes, To-dos, and Meetings Are Visible at a Glance

  • Minimized duplicate work: No need to copy and paste materials to multiple places, as all information is synchronized, reducing effort.

  • No anxiety about missing things: Since everything is gathered in one place, there's less need to worry "did I forget anything?"

  • Quick context recovery: Even when work transitions occur, you can check notes, to-dos, and schedules all at once within one tool, making context tracking easy.

Action Plan: Building an Integrated Management System

1. Designing an Integrated System in Daily Routines

  1. Morning: Check today's calendar schedule, to-do list, and notes written yesterday (ideas and work records)

  2. Morning focus time: Immerse in important project work (open related project notes and materials immediately if needed)

  3. After meetings: Create meeting notes and action items (to-dos) immediately, and readjust priorities

  4. Afternoon focus time: Record comments or additional materials in notes, and modify related schedules

  5. Before leaving work: Preview tomorrow's schedule and reconfirm to-dos

2. Minimizing Context Switching

1. Notification Minimization & Time Blocking

  1. Don't keep messenger or email windows open constantly; check them only at designated times (e.g., 11 AM, 3 PM, etc.)

  2. This prevents being distracted by "other tasks" that unnecessarily come to mind during work.

2. Immersing in One Work Context

  1. Instead of alternating between multiple tasks like multitasking, immerse in one task for a set time (1-2 hours) to complete it, then move to the next task.

  2. Even when there are external factors like meetings or phone calls, try to adjust the schedule to after the current task is finished if possible.

3. Reducing Work Return Time

  1. When work is interrupted by urgent meetings, etc., briefly note "what content has been processed so far" in memos or notes.

  2. When you return, you don't have to wonder "what was I thinking about?" so re-concentration time is greatly shortened.

3. Implementing a Capture System

Capture in GTD (Getting Things Done) refers to the process of externalizing all ideas and to-dos that come to mind into an external system. (You can find detailed information in this article.)

  1. Whenever new work or ideas come to mind, don't handle them immediately but capture them all in a designated place (like an inbox in an integrated tool).

  2. Later, check and process the captured work at designated times, which can greatly reduce indiscriminate switching.

Toward a New Integrated way of working

In the end, the real reason we get exhausted might not be the endlessly increasing workload itself, but the constant switching back and forth.

Now it's time to break away from the myth of multitasking and try an integrated work method that gathers schedule, to-do, note, and meeting information in one place. You don't have to worry about missing something while going back and forth between different platforms.

Even in a distracting and busy world, if you want to develop the habit of deep immersion, start with work integration first. By doing so, you can reduce unnecessary switching and regain the power to focus on just one thing that we originally possessed.