The invisible barrier you must cross to switch modes and why it fools you into thinking it would take too much effort to complete a task.

Transcript

Revisiting Multitasking and the Energy of Switching Tasks

Do you multitask? Wait, we we already covered this. In a previous episode, we talked about how energy is really the glue that holds together various multitasking tasks that when you switch between one and the other, there’s a certain amount of energy you have to expend. And the studies recently done add a lot of credence to it and that you’re really not getting more done. You’re in fact getting less done and not as well. So, anyone who’s multitaskked probably found this and and multitasking is one of those holy grails that I look for in my talk and podcast about something called do it to a fault, which is one of my fun acronyms and I love me some acronyms. I explain how people can connect two things together and get a couple things done at the same time. Now, that’s not multitasking per se because it’s really using two different brain systems. Having a conversation on the phone while you’re emptying the dishwasher is not necessarily multitasking because they’re two different modes of operation. Doing your taxes while you’re driving, well, yeah, that’s not a good idea. If you haven’t listened to that one, go listen to it. It’s it’s a good episode. Having said that, I want to talk about something related but different.

The Invisible Energy Barrier of Changing Modes

So, have you ever had something that you need to do and you realize you haven’t been doing it or you forgot about it and then when you remember it, you have a little bit of a a dread or a sigh. But if you examine how much energy it takes to do the thing, it doesn’t really take all that much energy. So, it’s almost confusing as to, well, why don’t I just do that? What you’re feeling is the invisible barrier of energy that’s preventing you from switching into that mode. And that’s kind of what we talk about in in multitasking is that there’s this energy you have to expend to switch and kind of clear your mind and say, “Okay, now I’m a chef. Okay, now I’m a mom. Okay, now I’m a corporate individual like a CFO and I have to speak a certain way and so on and so forth.” And we talked about that a bit in an episode about switching modes. So check that out as well. But getting back to this invisible energy barrier and and that’s what it is. You think about a task and you think, “Oh, well that’s not that.” And then you just kind of feel it. You feel that you don’t want to do that cuz it’s different. You’re in a different mode. And it’s not that it’s a bad thing. It’s not that you don’t even necessarily not want to do it, but our brains like to trick us and we think, “Oh, I’m only not doing that because my wife this is going to happen or this happens with my kids or I’m just so drained from this.” And and you’re not. You’re not drained from the thing because this might even be something that in a way might be rewarding, but you have to switch modes. And you can feel that energy of switching modes and it might be disorienting for you.

Why Switching Between Work and Personal Modes is Draining

If you’re at work in a corporate environment and you’re in a conference room and your boss says, “Hey Janelle, be funny. Be as funny as you can possibly be right now.” And it’s a it’s a very somber, serious, financially oriented environment. As much as it sounds fun and empowering to just sort of be funny and be silly, it feels disorienting because you normally aren’t in this situation. And it feels like you’d have to push yourself into being funny. And guess what happens once you push yourself into being funny or being in this different emotional mode. You would then have to push yourself back out.

Something that might be a little closer to home is if somebody you’re working with is going through something. They’re going through a divorce or something horrible happens to them or or or somebody they care about and they kind of pull you into their world and you’re like, “Oh, that’s right. Tomorrow Denise is going to tell me about her her ex-husband or what she’s going through and it’s just so draining and I just want to focus on my spreadsheet stuff.” Now, just to clarify, you might very much look forward to going and grabbing some wine with Denise after work next Thursday to talk about all this nonsense. You’re you’re going to get into it. It’s going to get really juicy, but not in the middle of work because besides it being inappropriate, it’s also something that causes you to switch modes. Hit the wall of energy going in and hit the wall of energy going out.

The Exhausting Effect of Juggling Multiple Life Roles

Is this starting to clarify why some things are difficult for you to get accomplished to check off your to-do list? It could explain a lot if you are bouncing around between a lot of different things. And when I say a lot of different things, I mean maybe switching between being a single parent or an entrepreneur and somebody who wants to be creative and somebody who wants to get stuff done around the house and somebody who wants to be romantic for their partner and so forth. All of those are different modes. Each one of them has a barrier of energy that you have to cross over.

You’ve probably also noticed that the more willing you are to do a thing, so in other words, it’s something you really want to do. And in terms of my latest book, it’s a it’s a unicorn that’s pulling you to this pleasure. The more you want to do it, the easier it is to do it if you know it’s going to be a while before you go back. So, in other words, if there was something fun you wanted to do and you were going to kind of sneak it in like across your lunch hour, it would be hard because you’re going in and going out again. But if you said, “I’m taking a half day,” you’d say, “Oh, yes, take me. Finally, I can go and do that thing I want to do that I’ve really been looking forward to.” And the thing might be gardening. The thing might be cleaning up a closet, but it just might be weighing on you. And like again, it requires you to put your head down and to get into it. And those should all be key phrases for you. Putting your head down, getting into it, letting yourself go, being in a certain frame of mind. All those things mean the same thing. They mean that you are driving and adjusting your intellectual, emotional, and physical energy to perform this task to the best of your ability.

The High Cost of “Phoning It In” While Mode Switching

That brings up another subject to the best of your ability because you can push back and say, “Mark, I can switch things like this. I’m not like some crazily committed person to something as opposed to a committed person who’s crazy.” You say, “Look, it’s it’s you’re making a big deal out of it.” Yeah, I’m making a big deal out of it. If you like to do things shoddily, if you like to do things kind of phoned it in and say, “Well, that’s good enough.” Well, sure. Then you could switch all day long sucking up your energy where you’re still kind of half in one world while you’re half in this other world and you just kind of get it done. You could be inattentive. You can be that way for your parenting. You can be that way for your taxes. You could be that way for your relationships. You can be that way for your career. Yes, you can be fairly inattentive, but do you want to be? I don’t think so. Especially if you’re listening to this. I think you’re really someone who likes to hear new ideas, likes to better themselves, likes to think about what’s the best way to do something, and likes to think about behind the scenes, especially when it comes to getting things done and the fun of experimental psychology, which is really kind of cool.

A Strategy for Overcoming the Energy Barrier

So, what did we learn then? Well, as always, I try to raise your awareness and then I try to give you some homework or something that maybe you could do that that would help. And the awareness is that there is this invisible barrier between us switching modes. And the bigger the difference in the modes, the larger the amount of energy. We learned that if you want to go off halfcocked and or just not be so committed or just phone it in, then yes, you can kind of cross that barrier back and forth, but y...

The invisible Barrier