Productivity Hacks — Solution For Every Problem
Struggling With Multitasking? Never Again — Use Twitter CEO’s Productivity Hack
Jack Dorsey, the CEO of both Twitter & Square, has an effective way of running both companies successfully
In 2020, Jack Dorsey’s Square made $9.49 Billion in revenue. Twitter earned $3.716 Billion during the same year. There aren’t many people on earth who can manage a single one billion dollar revenue-generating company. Most of us struggle with one job. Yet, Jack Dorsey has been managing two massively successful companies for years.
Modern science tells us multitasking is bad. Dr. Kevin P. Madore and Dr. Anthony D. Wagner, Professors of Stanford University, showed in their research the costs of multitasking. They showed that there is a cost of switching from one task to another — the accuracy and speed of our work drop. Another study showed how trying to complete other tasks during driving affects driving performance. Multitasking divides our attention. As a result, our output suffers.
Then why didn’t it suffer for Jack Dorsey? How is Twitter still growing? Why is Square making billions?
The simple trick that helped Jack Dorsey captain two ships
In a 2011 interview at Techonomy, Jack shared his secret —
The way I found that works for me is I theme my days. On Monday, at both companies, I focus on management and running the company…Tuesday is focused on product. Wednesday is focused on marketing and communications and growth. Thursday is focused on developers and partnerships. Friday is focused on the company and the culture and recruiting. Saturday I take off, I hike. Sunday is reflection, feedback, strategy, and getting ready for the week.
Jack Dorsey has created themes for different days of his week. It’s a simple yet effective technique. By creating themes for days, he has effectively nullified the negative impacts of multitasking. He is not switching between tasks in a day so that he can avoid the costs of multitasking. He has added enough gap and the time to refresh between each task to break down multitasking into single tasks.
At the same time, he has grouped similar activities. He can get into the details of one topic, get things done, and make solid progress. I once saw a company moving from one meeting to another — with each meeting having a different topic. It was draining and nothing ever got done. Projects that could have been finished in 3 hours dragged on for months.
How we can use Jack’s trick in our lives
We may not have the luxury of planning our whole week. Sometimes we have to do what others expect of us. But we can still divide parts of the day to do what we need to. Mornings can be for personal development or grooming. Evenings can be for family time. Early hours at work can be dedicated to difficult tasks. By creating anchors in different parts of the day, we will be able to have more control over our lives.
Even at work or school, where we have to spend a large amount of time, we can create slots for different types of work. A great tool to do that is the POMODORO technique. POMODORO creates small work slots that are separated by smaller breaks. It creates themed work slots — like Jack Dorsey’s themed days but shorter.
Jack’s life is also not about running all the time. He takes breaks between topics. He de-stresses every week by hiking. It’s important to stop and take a breather every now and then to avoid burnout. Because life is not a Tom Cruise movie or an episode of Doctor Who.
Final thoughts on Multitasking
Multitasking is often necessary and unavoidable. However, the constant switching between different topics makes us fatigued and less effective. It’s way better to create themed slots for each type of work, dissect multitasking into simple tasks and take breaks in between.
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Related: 5 Best Productivity Hacks To Get More Done
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