You are actually just switching your attention astonishingly quickly, over and over again. It is not only exhausting, but makes you even less efficient than if you did one thing at a time.

Dr Earl Miller is a neuroscientist and Professor of Neuroscience at MIT in the United States.

“People can’t multitask very well, and when people say they can, they’re deluding themselves,” says Dr Miller. “The brain is very good at deluding itself.”

Dr Miller says trying to multitask is an extra problem when you’re juggling similar tasks, for example talking on the phone while writing an email. He says it’s impossible to focus on both because they involve the same part of the brain, the part responsible for communication.

Multitasking makes you slower

Researchers have proven that trying to switch between too many things too often actually reduces your productivity.

The only time it is possible to multitask to any extent at all is when one of the tasks in habitual or automatic. Think: cleaning your teeth while mentally compiling your to-do list. But as soon as you need to focus on something new, such as discovering a sore tooth, your brain switches away from your to-do list.

Research Fellow at Deakin University’s School of Psychology, Dr Gillian Clark, says our brain doesn’t have capacity to allocate attention to everything all at once.

“This switching to and from is really inefficient,” Dr Clark says, “It means that we miss things, make mistakes and slow down on all the tasks we’re switching between. Multitasking generally lowers productivity.”

The University of Utah recently ran a comprehensive study to measure how well people think they can multitask, compared to how well they can actually do it. They concluded, “Perceptions of the ability to multitask were found to be badly inflated.”

What’s more, they said, “the persons who chronically try to multitask are not those who are the most capable of multitasking effectively.”

How to actually get more done

So if multitasking doesn’t help you get more done more quickly, then what does?

Doing one thing at a time, according to experts. It’s simple but powerful.

Here are some more tips on how to achieve that:

1. Create a block of time for each task

Most of us have to do multiple tasks within a day, so the trick is to create blocks of time for different tasks, where you can work undistracted by all the other tasks.

You could even set yourself appointments with each task – it seems to increase your commitment to getting it done.

2. Plan your day

Yes, unexpected things will come up, but planning allows you to allocate blocks of time for the tasks you know you have to do, while allowing some wriggle room.

3. When you’re at your desk, only work

If you know you like to procrastinate on news, websites or social media, then train yourself to do that away from your desk. Stand up and use your phone, if you must. That way, you create a habit where being at your desk means focused work.