The Multitasking Myth: Why Focus is a Real Superpower

Nov 12, 2025

We’ve all said it: "I’m great at multitasking."

Cool flex. Totally false.

Science—and let’s be honest, life experience—says you’re not multitasking. You’re just switching tasks really fast, burning brain fuel every time you do, and calling it productivity while your prefrontal cortex quietly dies inside.

There’s this short video by René Rodriguez that hits the point with a perfect little mental trap. He walks you through counting 1 to 10. Easy. Then A to J. Also easy. But then he asks you to alternate: A1, B2, C3... and suddenly your brain hits the brakes. Because you’re not designed to jump between tasks like that. What you’re doing is called task-switching.

Watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Jup2lOmmXqg

Task-Switching Comes at a Cost

Every time your brain switches tasks, there’s a hidden fee. It’s called task-switching cost—and it's real. Your brain has to reboot a different neural pathway, load up context, suppress the last thing you were doing, and launch the next thing like a new app on an ancient laptop.

That friction chews up your working memory, burns glucose, and drains mental energy. And research shows it doesn’t take long before you’re left with less cognitive horsepower than a squirrel on decaf.

Stanford and MIT studies show chronic multitaskers actually perform worse on memory tests, attention control, and impulse management. Multitasking doesn’t sharpen you—it scatters you.

Flow is the Goal

Let’s talk flow state. That magic zone where time disappears and output skyrockets. If you’ve ever been fully immersed in writing, coding, designing, or even just building IKEA furniture with laser focus, you’ve felt it.

Now imagine being ripped out of that zone mid-flow. According to Rodriguez, it takes an average of 19 minutes to get back in. Nineteen. That’s a sitcom episode. That’s two-thirds of a therapy session. That’s longer than most people spend doing focused work in a day.

And most of us are getting ripped out of flow dozens of times a day. Notifications. Slack. Email. Background noise. Your own brain saying “hey what about lunch?”

It’s no wonder we feel fried.

What the Neuroscience Says

Earl Miller’s research at MIT breaks it down: the brain doesn’t multitask. It toggles. Each task you take on gets handled by a different part of your brain. It requires a new set of resources—attention, monitoring systems, chemical support.

This constant switching depletes your mental reserves. It’s why, after a couple hours of multitasking, you feel drained even if you “didn’t do much.” Because your brain spent all its fuel on transitioning, not executing.

Big Think adds another kicker: over time, this constant switching actually reduces grey matter in parts of your brain related to decision-making and emotional regulation. So not only are you less productive in the short term—you’re slowly rewiring your brain to be worse at handling complexity over time.

Watch the full Big Think video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iM4u-7Z5URk

Read Earl Miller's paper: https://bpb-us-e1.wpmucdn.com/sites.mit.edu/dist/e/1232/files/2017/01/Miller-Multitasking-2017.pdf

Congrats, you played yourself.

Evolution Isn’t On Your Side

We like to think we’re adaptable creatures. And we are. Just not fast enough.

Our brains are ancient hardware running on modern inputs. Big Think calls this "evolutionary lag"—the idea that while our environment changes at lightning speed, our brains take 20,000 years to catch up.

So yeah, maybe by the year 22,000, we’ll have the brain chemistry to handle eight Zoom calls, five DMs, three tabs, and a spreadsheet at once. But today? You’re working with stone tools in a smart home.

Which means it’s up to you to set boundaries your brain can handle.

Be Like an Air Traffic Controller

You know who else has to focus hard on multiple things at once? Air traffic controllers. The difference? They don’t pretend they’re superhuman.

By law, they’re required to take breaks every 90 minutes. Not optional. Not “if you feel tired.” Mandatory.

They get up, unplug, walk away. Not because they’re lazy—but because if their focus depletes, people die. That’s how serious task-switching cost is.

Now you might not be guiding planes, but you are guiding your attention, your energy, and your ability to make good decisions. So maybe take a note from their playbook.

Why This Matters for ADHD Brains

If you’ve got ADHD, all of this hits even harder.

You’re not just task-switching externally. You’re battling a mind that’s already firing five ideas a minute, mid-sentence. Distractions aren’t just pings from your phone—they’re random thoughts, tangents, half-finished projects, phantom sounds, and that song lyric you haven’t heard since 2003.

For neurotypicals, multitasking is a bad habit. For ADHD brains, it’s the default operating mode—unless you build in systems to break it.

Timers. Externalized to-do lists. Dedicated blocks of time with zero distractions. It’s not about discipline—it’s about creating flow entry points you can slip into before the noise starts again.

Focus is a Competitive Advantage

In a world of open tabs, rapid-fire content, and algorithmic interruption, focus is rare. Which makes it valuable.

High-performers across industries all tend to say the same thing: They protect their attention. They don’t try to do it all. They choose what to engage with, and when.

It’s not about doing less. It’s about doing one thing well. That’s where clarity, impact, and fulfillment live. Not in the blur of trying to answer texts while scanning headlines while half-listening to a podcast and wondering why you feel like garbage.

What to Do About It

Single-task with intention. Pick one thing. Set a timer. Shut everything else down. Work until the timer ends. Then stop.
Batch the noise. Emails, messages, errands—cluster them. Don’t let them leak into everything else.
Protect flow. Treat it like sacred ground. When you’re in it, don’t leave for anything short of a fire.
Take real breaks. Unplug. Move. Breathe. Let your brain reset.
Curate your inputs. Be ruthless about what you consume and when. Not all information deserves your attention.
Make clear boundaries with work teams. Block time for deep work, turn off Slack, and let people know when you’re heads-down. Your performance will accelerate if you protect that space consistently.

Final Thought: Attention is the New Currency

We like to say “time is money,” but it’s not. Attention is money. It’s what everything competes for. And if you give yours away to every alert, every interruption, every shiny new tab—you’re broke before noon.

Multitasking? It’s a con.

Your real power comes from depth, presence, and the ability to lock in on what matters. Not all the things. Just the rightthing.

Train that, and you're not just more productive—you’re untouchable.

More From This ADHD Circus Tent

If this story made you nod, laugh, or aggressively point at your screen like “yes, that’s me”—you might like a few of these other brain-scrambled adventures from the creative trenches. Same flavor, same chaos, maybe even a duck metaphor or two.

Temporal Black Hole
The Broken Clock of Friendship
Pulling Forward