Born to Multitask

by Rebecca Loveridge on August 24, 2010

born to multitask

Hi, I’m Becca. I’m a Gen-Y, Type-A, multitasking machine.

I’m part of a generation that is expected to crank out quality work with frightening efficiency.

We shave off the fat between idea inception and execution. We brainstorm in our sleep. We tweet. We write. We design. We produce. We respond to hundreds and hundreds of emails a day. And we do it all at the same time. While on conference calls.

Quite simply, we get stuff done. 

There’s a reason so many in our generation are gobbling up available jobs. Our parents’ generation might not understand us, but they’ve got to admit, we’ve mastered the technology we grew up with, and we use it to our professional advantage.

It’s disgusting, actually: We have multiple cell phones, laptops, desktop computers, and iPads. Throughout the day we switch back and forth, back and forth, depending on which device does what we need done best.

But we’re not always being asked how we organize our days. Or how we find the time to multitask like we do.

How we focus when there’s so much flying around? Here are my ground rules.

Be obsessively organized
Navigating your server and folders should come as naturally to you as walking from your bedroom to the bathroom in the middle of the night.

Make lists
Even if you’re nowhere near a pad of paper. Use your phone. Don’t have a phone handy? What the hell are you thinking?

Don’t have meetings for meetings
Having a meeting to prepare for a meeting says you haven’t done your homework. Get prepared on your own, show up, and deliver.

Be mobile
Sync your work calendar and email to your mobile device. Be willing to give a quick response at the drop of a hat if you can’t take a call. Even at 11 p.m. On a weekend. In the summer.

Make a decision, stupidPick up the phone
Emails are great, but sometimes they’re just inefficient. Find the shortest distance between your problem and solution—sometimes it’s as simple as a quick phone call.

Love what you do
If you don’t absolutely love what you’re doing 100% of the time, congratulations, you’re human. But for the most part, you should be pretty happy with what you’re investing your time in. With happiness comes enthusiasm, drive, and success. It’s not the other way around.

[image: futurestreet]

Rebecca Loveridge

Written by: Rebecca Loveridge

Rebecca works in marketing at TMG. On the weekends, she brunches like it’s her job. Follow her on Twitter.


  • Ben

    Are we saying this is a good thing?

  • bill

    I’m not sure all of Gen Y actually does “crank out quality work with frightening efficiency.” It’s more like they crank out texts with frightening, zombie-like stares on their faces.

  • Skylar

    We make Gen X look lazy and Gen Z look like space cadets. We rule the roost and that’s not going to change.

  • joe

    Further evidence that while the tech changes, there truly is nothing new under the sun. We boomers said similar things to “The Greatest Generation” folk about 20 some odd years ago.

    I’d also point out that many of the Gen Y’s I work with are truly talented, can multi task and crank out excellent work and are frighteningly well organized. And like some of the colleagues of my generation, there are also some Gen Y’s I work with who I would prefer to strangle. If I could get away with it.

  • http://sucktackular.com Sucktackular

    It isn’t true multitasking. It’s efficiently using the tools at our disposal to mostly do trivial tasks. Checking email while tweeting, browsing, and watching a YouTube video? Whoa dude, you just got a lot done. Except not.

  • https://tmgcustommedia.com Rebecca

    @Ben It’s good and it’s bad. We work our butts off and get things done. And, because of it, there are some scary-successful 25-year-olds running things in major corporations and in the government these days (it terrifies me how many of my friends are making intense, high-level decisions in DC’s government buildings. For real.) It’s bad because we’re going so fast we might reach a breaking point. For instance, I recently worked myself into some serious back pain (computer-tension-mouse-clenching-straining-stress-GAH!). Are we going to burn out a generation by expecting them to move as fast as technology?

    @Bill Depends on the person and their career choice, I ‘spose.

    @Syklar Word.

    @Joe True. Boomers probably were working faster than any generation before them. But, by having grown up with technology that makes us even more efficient, Gen Y is working exponentially faster than even boomers were. And you’re right, it still all depends on the person.

    @Sucktackular I’m not talking about browsing the web or watching online video here. I’m talking about work.

  • joe

    @Rebecca: ” Are we going to burn out a generation by expecting them to move as fast as technology?”

    Wouldn’t be surprised. I’ve wondered for a lot of years if what we do in technology happens because the technology gets adopted well before people have a chance to consider wether or not it’s a good thing. But that’s sort of the nature of the beast.

    @Sucktackular is most likely referring to some folks at a major corporation that shall remain nameless who I have been dealing with all morning. Of course, while they’re browsing YouTube, they’re not inflicting irreperable harm on my clients. So maybe it’s a good thing.

  • Theresa k

    As a 25-year-old marketer in the DC area I think just the nature of marketing and being successful demands extreme multi-taksking…regardless of age.

  • http://datawench.net GR Morgan

    Different kinds of technologies enable different kinds of personalities for different kinds of tasks.

    Becca is a Type A, a people person, a born “go-getter.” She thrives on a bit of chaos and intense, continuous interaction. The tools she uses – and her methods of using them – reinforce and support her.

    That same workstyle would kill me. I’m an ADD introvert, a born geek… I distract myself just by breathing and need to wall out the world with darkness and noise in order to focus on my programming. Multitasking is the worst thing I can do, and all my organizational efforts are aimed at eliminating it.

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