Why do we believe that we can perform multiple tasks at the same time without any hindrance to learning? Does multitasking really exist? Is it really beneficial for students? Here is where most of the students go wrong. They don’t understand how exactly multitasking works in their brain, when to do it, when to avoid it and how to make the best use of it.

The illusion of simultaneousness in multitasking

Multitasking refers to simultaneous/concurrent processing of two or more tasks. Please take note of the word ‘simultaneous’ as it plays important role in our understanding of multitasking. Technically, ‘simultaneous’ means at the same instant of time. But now in context of multitasking, it is also used in short for ‘perceived simultaneousness’ or ‘illusion of simultaneousness’. Now you would ask, why? Because most of the time multitasking involves context switching, which means that only one task is performed at an instant of time but the tasks are constantly juggled/switched giving the illusion of simultaneousness.

So, how does it affect us?

Your brain cannot process two relatively different thoughts simultaneously. It makes heavy use of context switching between different thought processes. Surprised? But it’s true. Whenever your brain switches from one task to another, it saves the current state of the task so you can come back to it later (somewhat similar to ‘hibernation’ in Windows machines). So, in essence your brain is processing information in serial order and not in parallel fashion. These context switches are not free. They cost time and perhaps more. The time costs are directly related to your familiarity with the task. Thus, when you are doing complex unfamiliar tasks, you are actually taking more time to finish them by constantly switching between them than if you had done them sequentially.

Multitasking and learning

As we learned just now that the time costs for context switching increases with the complexity and unfamiliarity of the tasks, we can easily conclude that multitasking hinders learning. Why? Because learning involves delving into unfamiliar territories which is not favorable for context switching. So, it takes more time to finish the learning task. Secondly, the available ‘attention’ resource is limited at any instant of time. A learning task requires more attention and you might compromise its requirement if you are multitasking it with other tasks that compete for your attention. Even my computer hangs when I switch between different windows too fast. It needs some time in between not only to switch the context but also to come to a ready state. Similarly, your brain takes time to come to a ready state after context switching and if you switch too fast, you might not be able to concentrate on learning. Same goes for tasks that require creative thinking and imagination.

In my personal experience, multitasking leaves me unsatisfied with my work except when I am doing trivial or repetitive tasks and the goal is just to finish the tasks rather than learning something new. When the goal of a task includes learning, e.g., reviewing research papers for publications, I find it efficient to do the tasks one at a time. Serial execution also gives me satisfaction as I get enough time to absorb what I learned and to think about new ideas.

Multitasking and students

Two main aspects of multitasking are context-switching and attention resource. From what I have read, my conclusion is that multitasking, in general, should be avoided, especially by students. The goal of a student is not just to get things done but to learn new concepts and develop the thinking process. But while multitasking, different tasks compete for the limited resources in your brain and thus, there is no room for learning and thinking. Agreed that brains of younger people are better capable of switching contexts efficiently than those of grown-ups but too much of context switching is going to decrease your attention span and your ability to concentrate, in long terms. In habitual multitasking, your brain gets into a habit of being in hyperactive state whenever you take up a task to finish and it diminishes your ability to focus and concentrate on the task at hand.

If multitasking is inevitable, then it should be planned in a way that requires less context switching and makes best use of your available attention at the moment. Don’t ask me how. I am still trying to figure it out. Also, it is said that if the tasks are drawing resources from different parts of the brain then it doesn’t affect our performance. For example, I have experienced a few times that music helps me concentrate better. It might be because that particular music doesn’t require much of my conscious attention and that’s why context switching might not be happening, or it might be that I focussed my attention completely on the task at hand that I didn’t notice any phonetic distractions. I don’t know the answer but I am eager to find out.

Now, I have become more conscious of how I perform a task or multiple tasks. I first try to recognize the type of tasks I want to do. Do they require my full attention? Do they require me to concentrate and think? Are they trivial tasks? Are they familiar tasks? Are they repetitive tasks? Based on these questions, I decide whether I should perform more than one tasks at the same time or do them sequentially. Being a graduate student and having most of the ‘to-do’ tasks related to my research, the option that comes more often is sequential processing instead of multitasking.

Even if you are not a student, I would suggest you to check your multitasking habits and see if it helps or hinders your growth. As I have said earlier too, we are always learning and my experience says that multitasking hinders learning. In the end, it is upto you to decide if multitasking is for you or not.

Also read

1. Is multitasking more efficient?
2. The multitasking generation – Claudia Wallis
3. Multitasking wastes time and money – Megan Santosus
4. Multitasking makes us stupid – Kathy Sierra
5. How not to multitask – Leo Babauta

In a recent issue of a popular technical magazine, there was an article on networking for about-to-graduate-students. In that article, the author gave some ‘practical’ tips on how to build your network of prospective employers by pretending that you are not a job-seeker, and asking ‘sincere’ questions to build credibility. One of the tips was to ask recruiters their advice on how to improve your resume. In a nutshell, the author was implying that the perception of genuineness matters more than genuineness itself. But as Penelope says,

When you need a job, you’re not networking, you’re calling in favors.

It is really painful to read such articles with ‘practical’ tips. Why are such authors teaching students to pretend and manipulate, when the students are actually looking for a job? Why editors are allowing such stuff for publication that misleads the students? Don’t they feel responsible to educate students to be honest and genuine, and build a strong foundation for young generation? Or is it just about getting from here to there by any means?

What concerns me most is that the people who have ‘authority’ to disseminate knowledge are not careful enough to understand how such advice affects the younger generation. If these so-called ‘educated’ people don’t realize it’s impact, they shouldn’t be given such authority. They are corrupting the youth, the future. They are planting seeds of insincerity and dishonesty, which will soon grow into trees of hypocrisy and corruption.

This is related to what Stephen R. Covey said about the shift from character ethics to personality ethics in his book. The new trend is to create a perception of genuineness for personal gains. Many individuals and business organizations are doing it. Yes, it works sometimes, but in the end we are corrupting our own society. We are weakening the foundation on which a civilization survives.

Once you manipulate and if it works, you are tempted to do it again. The effects of such manipulating behavior are so subtle on you that without you knowing, soon it becomes a habit. You start manipulating your boss, clients, family and friends to get what you want. It seeps into your character and soon a wall of pretension builds around you, eventually leaving you alone, desperate and unsatisfied.

So, I request you all fellow students to not fall for such cheap tactics which will harm you in the long run. You don’t need to manipulate to become successful. Let’s not kill ‘genuinity’.

Also read:

• Networking for People Who Hate Networking – Penelope Trunk
• I remove my masks today – Lerner Rokelle
• How to GET people to trust you – Lisa Haneberg

There is no formal training for the new professors on how to teach. Most of the professors have no idea about what is expected from them. Teaching is not about reading slides, putting a number of complex topics on syllabus, or overburdening students with assignments to keep them busy. If you really want to be a better teacher, here are some points that I have borrowed from Chuck and put it from a (Ph.D.) student perspective.

It is not about you, it is about them – No, really it is not about you. You are there to help students learn what you know and explore what you don’t know. No one knows everything and in that sense you are also a student in the class. Create a learning environment in class instead of the ‘traditional’ teaching one.

Know your students – Knowing your students is very important. Assuming that they are like a clean white board is wrong. Each one has different experiences, background and prior knowledge. Every one sees the world differently. Knowing them will help you understand their expectations from the course.

Make your students feel comfortable – If your students feel comfortable then only they will have courage to ask questions and take initiatives. They won’t take the risk of speaking their mind to avoid embarrassment, if you are providing them a safe learning environment.

Show genuine passion – I have observed that students like the professors who are passionate about their field and exhibit it genuinely. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that students are naive and they won’t know if you are faking. They might not know your subject but they are not dumb. They have their own criteria to make decisions.

Tell them what they will gain – Every course every class has a purpose. If you make clear what students will learn in the course and what they will gain from it, they will be more inclined to learn and take efforts.
Communicate clearly – Even if you are well learnt and expert in a subject, if you can’t communicate clearly, your students will be confused and doubt your authority.

It is OK to say ‘I don’t know’ – I have seen professors for whom it is very hard to say, ‘I don’t know’. They try every possible thing to avoid the question or rebound it back to the student. As I sais earlier, students are not dumb. You’ll lose your credibilty. Better to say, ‘I don’t now but I’ll get back with you in next class’.

Teach from heart – Just like powerpoint slides are not ‘the presentation’, jsut repeating what you have learned is not teaching. Presentation is good when it is personalized by the presenter. Similarly, you will teach well when you can connect with the subject.

Repeat important points – I call them take-home points. Everytime I teach a class I make sure that the take-home points are repeated through out my presentation but are delivered in different ways. If you are just dumping more and more material on the student without ever repeating what is important, then students don’t learn anything. Yes, I am serious. I can say this because recently I recieved feedback from a class TA that the students expressed that they learned most from my class of all the other classes. And since I am a student too, I can tell that I mostly remember only the take-home points(if there are any) from a class.

Ask good questions – Ask such questions that show that you are really interesting in knowing what your students think and how much they have learned. These questions can be the ones that basically repeat the take-home points and/or explorative types that leads to open discussions.

Teach how to think – Your job as a teacher is not a transaction where you get paid for sharing your knowledge. If you want to be better, give some space to your students, help them learn how to think independently and solve problems, make meaningful conclusions, and take decisions.

Listen to them – Listening to your students will help you in understanding them better. Don’t try to guess what they are thinking. Let them speak without interruption.

Listen behind the words – It is important to listen to the emotions behind the words. This way you can connect to your students better. You’ll understand how they really feel about the subject and how much comfortable they are with it.

Create a synergetic environment – Try to build an environment where there is healthy competition among the students and they are not afraid to share their knowledge with each other.

Every student is different – Every student has different strengths. If you know your students you can figure out the best way to teach them the subject. Your lectures need to have different components for varied taste of students.

Never stop teaching – I never stop learning so I like teachers who never stop teaching. Become a teacher once, be a teacher for lifetime.

• Never define goals: Whatever you do, don’t ever try to define your degree objectives explicitly. If your goals are clear, you would feel like accomplishing them and that would lead to your graduation.

• Never plan or make timetables: Work on impulse. Don’t create a timetable or milestones map. This way no one (not even you) would know where you are going with your work.

• Don’t talk to other students: They lie about their progress. Keep to yourself. This way you would never know when others are graduating and you can have a peaceful stay as a student for a lifetime.

• Don’t seek advice from professors: They don’t know anything better than you. Be non-existent in the department.

• Trust your memory, don’t write: Don’t start writing ahead of time. Trust your memory and leave all the writing for the end (like there is one).

• Learn to juggle: Do many things at a time. Don’t prioritize your to-do list (you shouldn’t have any).

• Never backup your work: These computer machines don’t cost so much for nothing. Trust me they won’t crash. Even if they do, you can reproduce everything from your memory or redo things.

• Plan B: Who thinks of a plan B in case things go wrong. Don’t be a paranoid.

• Help others: Help others by letting them know how to stay in school forever just like I am helping you. Spread the word.

So, what is really going wrong with your thesis/dissertation/project? You work hard, but your advisor always expects more. Your committee decides the scope of your project but in next meeting it goes further beyond. You work with your advisor to produce something but your collaborators dump it. The goal and requirements keep changing. Others, who started with you, have started graduating.

I have experienced some of these in past and in recent too. It is frustrating to be in such situations. I could have avoided it in some cases but I didn’t know the rules of the game. Now that I have already burnt my hands, I’ll list down some rules to save you from such frustration.

Write it down

No matter what you discuss with your advisor/committee/collaborators, put it in writing and send them a copy. Humans are not really that good with memory. People believe in something today, and tomorrow they forget. If you put it in writing, you can refer back to it and challenge others on what was decided.

Get feedback

Your hardwork doesn’t count if it is not producing something useful. The usefulness of your work is decided by your advisor/committee/collaborators. Even if you put things in writing and send them email, it will not help till they acknowledge and give feedback. Feedback keeps you on track and tells you about their expectations.

Meet face to face

Even if you keep in touch through emails/phone, nothing beats meeting face to face. You avoid the pitfall of interpreting their words, moods, and tone. Talking face to face gives you an opportunity to get immediate feedback and discuss the concerns regarding the details which people tend to avoid responding to.

Don’t keep them hungry for long

They are not there just to give you feedback. They need to see results for the time they give to you. So, keep them in loop. Tell them about your progress from time to time. In fact, best is to fix a weekly/monthly meeting just to present what you did since last meeting.

These rules are not new. Rob has already mentioned them with respect to a product development cycle. After reading his article, I could clearly see how these rules apply to my situation too. I could relate to them easily. Only if I had known them earlier…

So, remember that you have to keep not only yourself on track (by seeking feedback) but also your advisor/committee/collaborators (by showing progress frequently).

So, I looked around to find some information that could help my friend. And I found a wonderful ebook ‘When you can’t earn an MBA’ by Rajesh Setty that talks about getting ahead in your career without MBA. According to him, if for some reasons you cannot do MBA, you can still get ahead of others following an alternate plan. I’ll list down his suggestions with my two cents in addition.

• Check your attitude: Greatest of human freedom is to be able to choose one’s attitude. You can choose either to feel as a victim of the circumstances for not being able to do MBA or to take positive actions to do something about it. Your choice will either let you be where you are or allow you to move forward towards your goal.
• Design an alternate plan: While the formal MBA provides you with a structured plan, learning by yourself will take you to develop your own plan to check your progress. This requires you to come up with metric to measure your growth from time to time.
• Acquire knowledge at a breathtaking speed: Learn as much as you can from books, blogs, magazines, newsletters, websites etc. Today knowledge is accessible very easily but to avoid information overload you have to create a long term structured plan of knowledge-acquisition.
• Belong to powerful networks: As Rajesh puts it, “It’s not what you know but who you know. And it’s just not who you know, but how you know who you know”. You can join professional organizations in your field, non-profits, alumni associations, etc. Building a network will always help you in long run. But it is a two-way road. Be ready to offer something valuable to others. Networks rely on trust, so be trustworthy.
• Build great long term relationships: From your networks, you will know many influential and powerful people. Build good one-to-one relationships with some of them. But as for networks, this relationship is also a two-way road. You should be giving something of value to them and receiving something valuable in return.
• Volunteer for engagements of higher value: Other than just doing your work efficiently, try to look for opportunities to participate in higher value enagagements. People do notice people who add higher value to the organization.
• Lead a volunteer effort: Create opportunities to develop and demonstrate your leadership skills by taking initiative in volunteer efforts. Start on small scale in your group, department or organization. Do something where others can join you volunteerily.
• Work with a startup for free: Identify a startup company and offer your services that are of interest to that startup. Use your networks to find such startups. Startup size is generally small, so they are always looking for people who can take more responsibilities and are well-experienced in one or two areas.
• Make others win: Help others to achieve their goals, and you will find yourself moving forward towards your goals. If you help others, you will find no troubles in getting help from others.
• Get a good mentor: Finding a good mentor is not that easy. You need to find someone who cares for you and your goals and is able to provide answers to your questions. But again, it is a two-way road. You won’t get a mentor unless you are of some value to him/her, because they would be investing their time and expertise in you.

Rajesh also lists 10 things that you have but the people doing MBA won’t have. In essence, you’ll have more time, money and experience than others to build on your strengths. Download the complete ebook.

Realization: Do you realize that you are procrastinating? Most of the people I have seen do acknowledge that they know that they procrastinate (a lot). That’s good (not the procrastination part), atleast you are aware of what’s happening. But it adds to another problem. It is frustrating when you know about it but are not able to stop it.

Like one of my friends, let’s call him D, who wanted to quit smoking but even after trying for 2-3 years he was just not able to quit it. Though he realized that smoking is injurious to health (physical and mental), he couldn’t control it. It seems that cigarettes controlled him. Same was the case with me. Procrastination was controlling me, my time, and my productivity. I was like a prisoner who desired freedom but was compelled to follow the orders. But atleast I (and D) realized that there is something wrong with it and something needs to be done.

Practical solutions: I tried to overcome procrastination by employing some practical solutions. I used to spend most of my weekends watching TV. Also almost every evening of mine was spent watching Friends, Everybody loves Raymond, Seinfield etc. Finally one day I just shut down that box for good. I am also an addictive web surfer. I used to spend hours infront of the screen googling and browsing through webpages. It was an easily available natural distractor. So, I stopped casual surfing too in an effort to reduce my distraction time. But nothing worked. After some time I was back on the same routine (though I could reduce some TV watching).

Similarly, D also tried different things but in vain. He would quit every other week and start again after couple of days. Reasons varied but everytime he knew he shouldn’t be starting it again.

The reason for such failures can be attributed to the lack of a strong motivation to be able to give it up. We did realize that we have a problem but were not determined enough to solve it. In other words, we didn’t fully realize the negative effects of our habits, may be because there are no short term negative effects. If it doesn’t hurt you in short term, it is less likely you’ll quit it. We tend to be more reactive to things that have short term effects (gain or loss doesn’t matter) than that have long term effects.

Eye opening moment: Finally, there was one weekend when a number things happenned. I won’t go in detail but in that weekend I realized that if I don’t work towards my Ph.D. any harder in order to graduate soon, my (and my close one’s) life would be doomed. I could see myself failing professionally. I visualized how it would affect me and my close ones and believe me, I didn’t like what I saw. That time I knew I want to overcome procrastination no matter what. And since then I have considerably reduced the time killing activities. What helped me most was that image in my mind of what would happen if I don’t control it. Also, I posted a quote by Viktor Frankl on my desk saying, “To life he can only respond by being responsible.” This quote always reminds me of my responsibilities as a human being and I tend to work more aggressively towards my goal.

D could also quit smoking, completely. One day there was an ad asking for student volunteers for some study on effects of smoking and each volunteer was being paid something over $100.00. This caught D’s eyes and he volunteered (for the money of course). Those people took some tests and showed him what healthy lungs look like and how his lungs have deteriorated in comparison. They also gave him an estimate of how many more years he would live if he continued with the same frequency of smoking. That number and the picture of his lungs were engraved in his mind that day. After that whenever he smoked, that number and the picture would haunt him. He even started the reverse countdown. So, finally he decided to quit it completely for good (of course, with the help of some of the practical solutions he had used earlier but this time there was stronger motivation and he was more determined).

From all this, I find that there is nothing impossible but we cannot make it possible till we really, really, really care. A person can be successful in whatever he attempts if he is sincere to the cause. We find things difficult because either we are not sincere in our efforts or we don’t realize the after-effects (long/short term and positive/negative effects).

Life is too short to be wasted in doing things that you don’t want to. Unless you realize how much damage (personal, physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual) it is causing you, you won’t quit. So one of the way to overcome such negative habits is to:

1. Visualize what will happen if you continue with it.
2. Visualize what will happen if you quit it.
3. Try to draw a picture bringing in contrast between the two situations.
4. If there is a drastic and positive difference, you will be able to quit.
5. Else re-work on your visualization abilities and go back to step 1.

I said I gained some control over procrastination but not full control because there are many more things that I need to re-organize to overcome it completely (that would be a topic for some other post). I still do put-off things, like right now instead of working on my project I am writing this post but I am glad that it is some-what constructive procrastination.

• Previous research experience: This is not mandatory but it really helps to know what you are getting into. For every Ph.D. aspirant, I would suggest to first do a MS in thesis to get a taste of research. If you can get research experience in industry that would also help you a lot in later phases of your Ph.D.
• Self confidence: This is an internal quality that only you can build. If you have a slightest doubt on your abilities, better talk to someone or re-evaluate your reasons.
• Long term goal: Ph.D. is not an end in itself. If it is required for your long term goal then only go for it. Do you know what is your long term goal? Would a Ph.D. help in achieving that goal?
• Passion: This is really important because you cannot force it or build it. If you are passionate about a research area/topic then only you’ll be willing to sacrifice some of the joys of life to finish your Ph.D.
• Curiosity: If you are used to the traditional form of learning, Ph.D. might be little difficult for you. It requires you to think differently and question each and everything. Are you curious to know how things work?
• Creativity: It goes hand in hand with curiosity. Ph.D. requires you to be creative in your thinking and not just curious. You should be able to see things differently from what presented and come up with your own ideas.
• Analytical thinking/skills: It involves analyzing what you see and developing your own mantra. It defines your ability to see through the things, grasp the gist, and look at it from different angles. Were you comfortable with analytical questions in GRE?
• Self-motivation: It is important that you have the ability to work on a project without any external motivation and encouragement. There are no midterms or assignments to keep you on the track. There is no way to compare with other students where you stand in your Ph.D. If you are in the habit of doing only what your professor or boss tells you then you are going to face lot of problems to keep yourself motivated throughout your Ph.D. Are you able to write your to-do list by yourself?
• Adaptability: Even if you are fully prepared for Ph.D., there will be moments when you might need to change your way of thinking to progress successfully. It is never easy and that’s where this quality comes handy. Do you have the ability to change?
• Vision: Doing a Ph.D. requires a vision. What exactly you want from your Ph.D.? How will it help in your long term goals?

If you think you can fulfill the above mentioned criterion then the next step is to give a reason to your Ph.D. Why you want to do a PhD?

• Interest in research: If you don’t have any interest in doing research, don’t waste your valuable time in doing PhD. Do something else closer to your interest. PhD is a preparation for a research career (though in later years you might be able to steer your career in other directions). There are many organizations, institutes, and companies where you can work as a research scientist.
• Academic career: If you want to obtain an academic position then a PhD can brighten your chances. Most of the professors in major universities hold a Ph.D.

What are the benefits of a Ph.D. or a research career?

• You will meet and work with the brightest people.
• You will change the way people think.
• You will change the way people look at computers (or computers look at people).
• You will explore the unexplored and solve the unsolved.
• You will define new and betters ways to solve a problem.
• You will never be bored. There will be always something to explore and solve.
• You will increase your intellectual capabilities.