Multitasking: Go For it. Get Less Done.

It was entitled Read This Story Without Distraction (Can You?), and can be found here. As a long-time skeptic of the benefits of multitasking, I thought that it would be a good read over my chicken noodle soup, and I returned to my desk ready to see if the author was in my camp.

It was not a long article at 1,254 words, but between slurps of soup, various beeps and buzzes from my computer, my iPhone and my iPad, an unanswered phone call from an unfamiliar number and an unintended visit to the on-line Brooks Brothers shirt sale (an accidental ad click), I read the last sentence of the article over 30 minutes later. I’ve never actually known what my natural reading rate is, so I tested it. Assuming that I could read undisturbed for a minute, I grabbed my nearest copy of Financial Analyst Journal and read naturally for one minute. 292 words (and a few Greek letters). It should have taken me 4 minutes and 15 seconds to read the NYT article rather than more than half an hour.

So go ahead and try the test. See if you can read the article in less than 5 minutes. It might remind you of reading Treasure Island under the covers with a flashlight as a child.