Can multi-tasking at work wreck your diet?

From Joe:  Shortly after the turn of the century, we all were being sold a bill of goods about the coolness factor of multitasking: New gadgets, a new generation of workers, instant communication, all this was presented to as really slick. Article after article represented anybody who did not joyfully and skillfully multitask as being an old fogey — most probably a male old fogey. (For example, a USAToday story with its subtext.)

 A lot of research has been done on multitasking since that time. The gist of this research is that we pay a steep price for constantly switching our attention when we are doing something important.

 Worse yet, the more we switch attention, the more we might degrade our ability to control attention even in areas that are seemingly unrelated to the job where we hop from one focus to the next:

 Shifting focus a lot at work could wreck your diet:

 People who continually change gears to do different tasks may find it reduces their concentration and self-control in other areas of their lives.

 Findings from a new study show that frequently switching your mind-set or focus uses a lot of self-control. This may leave you with less ability to control your temper, to resist cheating on your diet or to continue your exercise routine…

 A related post: https://newsroom.goizueta.emory.edu/gnr/2011/04/28/changing-mindsets-may-prove-costly/

Another related post: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/ulterior-motives/201103/the-costs-changing-your-mindset

I’ve always been an applied practitioner, not a research scientist, so I don’t claim to be constantly up on the latest cutting-edge developments in cognitive science. That said, I keep up enough with their journals to convince me that these guys are on to something of extreme practical importance in their investigations of attention focus and control.

There’s nothing wrong with trying to break a specific habit of reaching into the candy jar for a jellybean. For most people, breaking specific habits like this is a very practical starting point in controlling unwanted behaviors. But it’s only a starting point and it needs to be further expanded to include proper respect for out capacity to voluntarily focus and refocus attention.

Human brains operate with complex knowledge structures that can override the automatic execution of specific habits depending upon how the person focuses attention. For example, have you ever heard of a surgical team with a few smokers (yes, there have been such teams) interrupting an intricate surgery so they could take a cigarette break? Nah! Their focused attention overrides the nicotine cravings that will only come to the fore when the job is finished.

The practical lesson is clear: When you want to make permanent changes, the most efficient procedures over the long haul will be those that respect the complexity of our minds and alter the cognitive structures which guide our behaviors.