3 ways you’re working wrong, according to scientists

I think a lot about productivity. I rarely feel productive. I don’t think I’m alone.

Our culture is full of all kinds of ideas about how to get the most done and a lot of it isn’t true. We believe things like that multitasking will help us get more done. And sometimes our bosses believe things that aren’t true, like how wonderful open offices are for increasing communication.

Here are three common productivity myths, alongside studies that help us see what the research says. Multitasking isn’t faster than focused work Multitasking gets things done faster than focusing on one thing at a time. Right?

Research suggests not. Every time you switch from one task to another there is a slight time cost, according to the American Psychological Association. “Although switch costs may be relatively small, sometimes just a few tenths of a second per switch, they can add up to large amounts when people switch repeatedly back and forth between tasks,” the organization stated.

“Thus, multitasking may seem efficient on the surface but may actually take more time in the end and involve more error.” This is backed by decades of research. A widely cited 2001 study published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology by researchers at the Federal Aviation Administration and the University of Michigan tested subjects on two different kinds of tasks: visual pattern classification and math problems.

They found that “reliable mean switching-time costs occurred, and their magnitudes increased with the complexity of the rules needed for performing the tasks between which participants had to switch.” Which is to say, switching from one task to another takes time, and it takes up even more time when the tasks are complex. The effect is worse if you’re switching from a familiar task to an unfamiliar one, the study states.

You might think you can get better at multitasking with practice, but research suggests the opposite. A 2009 study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Scien