You might do a lot of multitasking during your day.  But multitasking can hurt your productivity.  Whenever you switch to a new task and then switch back to the task you were working on, it takes time to figure out where you left off.

In an article titled “The Grand Seduction of Multitasking” on abcnews.go.com, it says “Microsoft studied its own employees and found it takes workers interrupted by e-mail or instant messages around 15 minutes to get back into their work groove.”

When you add up those minutes during the day, it results in a lot of time lost.

Multitasking can also hurt the quality of your work.  When you do multiple tasks at once, the quality of your work on each individual task is lower.

For instance, trying to solve complicated math problems while watching TV is ineffective.  It'll take you much longer to solve the problems because solving complex math problems needs your full attention.  And the quality of your solutions may suffer.

To avoid multitasking, make sure to do one thing at a time and stick to the task at hand.  Turn off your cell phone.  Avoid using an instant messenger while you work.  And turn off your email alerts.  This will keep you from switching back and forth from one thing to another.

Also, make sure the task you're working on is the only thing you're doing.  Don't watch TV at the same time, listen to the radio, surf the web, or talk on the phone while you're working on your task.