Do You Prefer to Multitask?
Juggling several things at once, or giving one thing your full attention
Some people feel more alive with several things going at once - a call, a document, a notification, all mid-stream. Others feel worse with every extra thing added to the pile, and do their best work with one door closed. Neither is a character flaw; the mismatch between your preference and what your day actually demands is usually the more interesting story.
Before you start There are no right answers. Pick what is usually true for you, not what sounds best.
Answer about your natural preference, not about what your current job forces you to do.
What it measures
Three related but separate things: how much you enjoy juggling several tasks at once (polychronicity, as in the Inventory of Polychronic Values and the Multitasking Preference Inventory), how much being interrupted mid-task bothers you, and how much you personally notice a cost each time you switch what you are doing. It is not the same as our time-management test, which is about planning and organising rather than switching, and preferring to multitask is not the same as being good at it.
Based on: Multitasking Preference Inventory (Poposki & Oswald, 2010) and Inventory of Polychronic Values (Bluedorn et al., 1999)
Possible results
Multitasking preference
Whether you would rather have several things going than one at a time.
Interruption tolerance
Whether an interruption mid-task derails you or barely registers.
Switch-cost awareness
Whether you notice a personal cost each time you change what you are doing.
Common questions
Does preferring to multitask mean I am good at it?
Not necessarily. Preference and ability are measured separately in this research, and they correlate only weakly. Task-switching studies consistently find a real cost in time and accuracy when people move between tasks, whether or not they enjoy doing it - liking the juggling does not cancel the toll it takes.
Is multitasking preference the same as being easily distracted?
No. Distraction is unwanted - your attention leaves the task against your will. Multitasking preference is a choice: you deliberately keep several things open because that arrangement suits you. A person can be very hard to distract and still strongly prefer juggling tasks on purpose.
Can I train myself to prefer one or the other?
Preference seems fairly stable, but the environment you build around yourself changes how much it matters. Batching similar tasks, closing notifications during focused work, and scheduling a fixed window for switching all reduce the real cost of task-switching regardless of which style you naturally prefer.
Sources
- Poposki, E. M., & Oswald, F. L. (2010). The Multitasking Preference Inventory: Toward an Improved Measure of Individual Differences in Polychronicity. Human Performance. doi:10.1080/08959285.2010.487843
- Bluedorn, A. C., Kalliath, T. J., Strube, M. J., & Martin, G. D. (1999). Polychronicity and the Inventory of Polychronic Values (IPV). Journal of Managerial Psychology. doi:10.1108/02683949910263747
- 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. doi:10.1037/0096-1523.27.4.763
An honest note These statements are Quinthea's own wording, inspired by preference measures like the Inventory of Polychronic Values and the Multitasking Preference Inventory, so scores are not comparable to those instruments' published norms. Only the first bar reflects a published preference measure; interruption tolerance and switch-cost awareness are related ideas from the same research area, not validated factors of it. Preferring to multitask is not the same as being good at it - the two are only weakly linked in the literature.
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