You always hear that the modern manager has to multi-task and that this is the way forward. I also used to think this and was one of those people with 10 internet explorer windows open at any one time, with another 5 email windows and then talking on the phone. I was proud of the fact that I could do so much simultaneously.
What I have discovered is that multitasking is not the way forward. When you don’t complete things one at a time you end up spending a lot of energy revisiting old tasks. For instance, if you are reading 3 books at one time it will take you a bit of time to regain where you left off the last time you put one of the books down. Also you have to regather your ‘bearings’ when you restart the task.