2 Management Consulting * What is it? * Paying Attention * Your Brain on Multi-tasking * Delusions – Fooling Ourselves * In the Real World * Summary and Conclusion * ??? Management Consulting

3 3 * The ability to perform multiple tasks at one time * or it can also involve switching back and forth from one thing to another * or involve performing a number of tasks in rapid succession

4 Management Consulting 4 * * Texting * Phone * Web

5 Management Consulting 5 * Posting on Facebook, Twitter, Linked-in, Instagram, etc. * Answering * Texting * Writing a report * Completing a spreadsheet * Listening to music/podcast

6 Management Consulting 6 * The human brain can only perform 1 task at a time.

7 Management Consulting 7 * Mind Wandering (Default Mode Network) * Mind wandering or day dreaming * Natural and restful brain state * Brain not engaged in a purposeful task * Thoughts directed inward – goals, feelings, plans and relationship with others (feeling empathy) * Central Executive * Demanding task * Prevent distraction * Limiting thoughts * Thoughts directed outward and inward – task focus * Attentional Filter – constant monitor of environment for what is important * Attentional Switch – enables us to * Shift from one task to another * Organize information

8 Management Consulting 8 * Multitasking is a powerful and diabolical Illusion!

9 Frequent multitaskers: * Cannot pay attention * Recall information, or * Switch from one job to another as well as those who complete one task at a time * Are actually worse at multitasking * Slowed down on task performance * Have reduced work quality by 40% ~~ Results of research conducted at Stanford University

10 Management Consulting 10 *  Stress hormone cortisol *  Fight or flight hormone adrenaline * Causing mental fog or scrambled thinking * Creates a dopamine-addiction feedback loop by rewarding the brain for losing focus and constantly searching for external stimulation * Pre-frontal cortex novelty bias – easily hijacked by something new and shiny * Pattern – phone, internet, , SMS, texting tweaks the novelty-seeking, reward-seeking brain centers causing a burst of endogenous opioids * Result –> lose focus and get off task Management Consulting

11 Management Consulting 11 * Nucleus accumbens a small structure of the limbic system * Regulates dopamine production and is the region that “lights up” when gamblers win a bet, drug addicts take cocaine, or people have orgasms * -, Facebook- and Twitter-checking reward the dumb, novelty-seeking portion of the brain driving the limbic system that induces this feeling of pleasure, * Not the planning, scheduling, higher-level thought centers in the prefrontal cortex

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13 Management Consulting 13 * Learning information while multitasking causes new information to go to wrong part of the brain – striatum (brain region specialized for storing new procedures and skills) rather than hippocampus (brain region specialized for organizing and categorizing facts easier to retrieve)

14 Management Consulting 14 An erroneous belief held in the face of contrary evidence.

15 Management Consulting 15 * Inattention – autopilot, multitasking * Denial – not believe what is right before our eyes * Misperception of Reality – threatens our most cherished assumptions/beliefs

16 Management Consulting 16 MT causes: * The prefrontal cortex and striatum to burn up oxygenated glucose, the same fuel they need to stay on task * The brain to burn through fuel so quickly that we feel exhausted and disoriented after even a short time * Anxiety, which raises levels of the stress hormone cortisol in the brain, which in turn can lead to aggressive and impulsive behavior

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18 Management Consulting 18 Distracted Drivers * Chances of having an accident: * 4 times more likely while talking on cell * 23 times more likely while texting on cell

19 Management Consulting 19 MT requires lots of decision-making resulting in: * Loss of impulse control * Making truly bad decisions about something important * Decision avoidance * Reduced ability to make trade-offs

20 Management Consulting 20 * Human brain cannot multi-task * So called multi-taskers are just rapidly switching from one activity to another * Psychological Harms * Inability to concentrate/focus * 40% reduction in productivity * Decision fatigue

21 Management Consulting 21 * Multi-tasking is a Myth

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