MIT neuroscientists just destroyed one of the most persistent productivity myths in modern work culture: multitasking doesn’t exist. Using advanced fMRI imaging, researchers at MIT’s Brain and Cognitive Sciences Department tracked neural activity in professionals who believed they were effectively handling multiple tasks simultaneously. The findings are definitive—your brain never actually processes complex tasks concurrently. It rapidly switches between them, and every single switch costs you 20-40% cognitive efficiency. The study followed 250 professionals over six months and found that self-identified “excellent multitaskers” showed the highest error rates and lowest output quality. What you think is productivity is actually systematic performance degradation. In this episode, Rhys Kael breaks down why task-switching is cognitively expensive, how it’s sabotaging your decision-making capacity, and provides three tactical steps to reclaim the efficiency you’re losing. If you’re juggling multiple projects, checking notifications while working, or pride yourself on handling many things at once, you need to hear this. Your brain isn’t built for what you’re asking it to do.
Sources: MIT Brain and Cognitive Sciences Department; Journal of Experimental Psychology (Cognitive Task-Switching Studies); Neuroscience Research on Attentional Control and Executive Function.
