Monotasking means doing one task at a time and giving it your full attention until you finish it or reach a planned stopping point. You close the other tabs, silence the phone, pick one thing and stay with it. It is the opposite of multitasking, which usually turns out to be switching quickly between tasks.
This guide covers what the research says about switching and interruptions, what it does not say, and a short routine you can start today. Use it for the stretches of work that need your attention, not for the whole day.
Roomie Cafe is a free focus timer you share with friends. We make it, and we mention it briefly near the end.
What monotasking means
Monotasking is a deliberate choice to work on a single task for a set period. The task can be small, like answering one email thread, or large, like drafting a report section. What matters is that nothing else competes for your attention while you do it.
Two things it does not mean:
- Never switching. Real days have meetings, messages and errands. Monotasking applies to the blocks where you decide to focus.
- Working without breaks. Breaks are part of it. You stop on purpose, not because something pinged you.
Why multitasking usually means switching
When people say they are multitasking on two demanding tasks, such as writing and reading chat messages, they are mostly alternating between them. Each switch has a cost.
In four experiments, Rubinstein, Meyer and Evans (2001) had people alternate between tasks or repeat the same task. Alternating produced switching time costs that grew with rule complexity and shrank when a cue said which task to do next [1]. In plain terms, switching takes time, and it takes more time when the tasks are harder.
Switching also leaves something behind. Leroy (2009) studied what she called attention residue, the difficulty of fully moving your attention to a new task when you leave the previous one unfinished [2]. If you have ever opened a document while still thinking about an unanswered message, you know the feeling.
Interruptions at work show a related pattern. Mark, Gudith and Klocke (2008) studied interrupted work and titled their paper "The cost of interrupted work: more speed and stress" [3]. We could not read the full abstracts of these last two papers, so we only describe their topics, not their numbers.
What research says about heavy media multitasking
A common claim is that people who multitask a lot become worse at focusing. The evidence is mixed, and it is mostly correlational.
Ophir, Nass and Wagner (2009) compared chronically heavy and light media multitaskers. Heavy media multitaskers were more susceptible to interference from irrelevant stimuli and from irrelevant representations in memory, and performed worse on a test of task switching [4].
A later review by Uncapher and Wagner (2018) found that the balance of evidence suggests heavier media multitaskers perform worse in a number of cognitive domains, although many studies find no differences between groups. The review also says more research is needed to determine the direction of causality [5]. So the research does not show that multitasking damages attention. It shows that the two go together, and the reason is still open.
Where monotasking helps most
Monotasking is worth the effort for work with these features:
- It needs real thought. Writing, studying, planning and coding.
- It takes time to get going. If you need ten minutes to load the problem into your head, every switch costs you that again.
- Mistakes are costly. Reviewing a contract or a budget.
It matters less for routine tasks you can pick up and put down, such as filing receipts or sorting a downloads folder.
How to monotask: a five step routine
- Choose one task and write it as a finished result. "Draft the introduction" works. "Work on the report" does not.
- Set a timer. A fixed end makes it easier to commit. Many people start with 25 minutes; our guide to the pomodoro method covers other lengths.
- Clear the other inputs. Close tabs you do not need, put the phone out of reach and mute notifications.
- Keep a parking note. When another task comes to mind, write one line on paper and go back. You will deal with it after the timer.
- Stop on purpose and note what you did. Take a short break, write down what you finished, then decide what is next.
If you reach for your phone anyway, that is common, and we explain why in our guide to doom scrolling. Make the reach harder rather than relying on willpower.
Common problems
You keep getting interrupted
If your job means answering people quickly, protect one or two blocks a day and tell people when you will be back. Our guide to time blocking shows how to fit focus blocks into a real schedule.
You cannot start
Shorten the round. Ten or fifteen minutes on a single task is still monotasking. If starting is a bigger issue, see how to stop procrastinating.
Your mind wanders
That is normal. Notice it, use the parking note if a task popped up, and return to the one you chose. For longer sessions, see our guide to deep work.
Monotasking with other people
Doing one thing at a time is easier when others around you are doing the same. Working alongside other people is often called body doubling. A survey study of people who use it found they described it as helping them build momentum and stay on task [6]. The evidence is early and mostly self reported, but it costs nothing to try. Our guide to how to focus on studying covers ways to do this with friends.
Monotasking on Roomie Cafe
On Roomie Cafe you press start, pick what you are working on, and see who else is focusing right now. Each person runs their own timer, there is no webcam or microphone, and nothing to book. When a session ends you write one line about what you did. It is free on the web and as an iPhone, iPad and Mac app.
FAQ
What is monotasking?
Monotasking is working on one task at a time, with your attention on it until you finish or reach a planned stop. It is the opposite of switching between tasks.
Is monotasking better than multitasking?
For demanding work, task switching has a measurable time cost [1], and unfinished tasks can leave attention residue [2]. For simple tasks the difference is small.
Does multitasking make you worse at focusing?
Studies find heavy media multitaskers do worse on some attention tests, but many studies find no difference, and the direction of cause is unknown [4][5].
How long should a monotasking session be?
Start with 25 minutes. Move to 50 if you keep stopping just as you get going, or to 10 or 15 if starting is hard.
References
- Rubinstein, J. S., Meyer, D. E., & Evans, J. E. (2001). Executive control of cognitive processes in task switching. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 27(4), 763 to 797.
- Leroy, S. (2009). Why is it so hard to do my work? The challenge of attention residue when switching between work tasks. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 109(2), 168 to 181.
- Mark, G., Gudith, D., & Klocke, U. (2008). The cost of interrupted work: more speed and stress. Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems.
- Ophir, E., Nass, C., & Wagner, A. D. (2009). Cognitive control in media multitaskers. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106(37), 15583 to 15587.
- Uncapher, M. R., & Wagner, A. D. (2018). Minds and brains of media multitaskers: Current findings and future directions. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 115(40), 9889 to 9896.
- Eagle, T., Baltaxe-Admony, L. B., & Ringland, K. E. (2023). Proposing body doubling as a continuum of space/time and mutuality: An investigation with neurodivergent participants. ASSETS 2023, ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility.