In his book The Twelve Monotasks: Do One Thing At A Time To Do Everything Better, American author Thatcher Wine explains how giving one task your total attention before moving onto another is the key to a more productive, healthier and happier you. “People think you get a lot more done by doing more than one thing at a time, but the opposite is true,” he explains. “With monotasking, you’re more productive, make fewer mistakes and are less stressed out. That ‘I’m constantly overwhelmed’ feeling disappears.” Without knowing its name, monotasking was something I should have embraced two years ago. Instead, I suffered a catastrophic burnout.

At the height of my career as a national magazine editor, with two teen sons and a mother with dementia, I resembled the Cat In The Hat, that book character who balances precariously on a ball while spinning plates, books, dinners and dogs. It all came inelegantly crashing down when I was diagnosed with severe hypertension and ended up in hospital with a heart monitor strapped to my chest. I finally quit my job, ripped up my never-ending to-do list and within weeks regained my health and my sanity. Because humans are not made to multitask. The word first joined the vernacular in the 1960s to describe a computer chip that could process two tasks at one time. “Only two per cent of the population have brains that can naturally multitask. They are known as super taskers,” says Thatcher. “While it’s fine to fold the laundry while listening to a podcast, having a conversation while typing an email isn’t great. It puts the brain under too much pressure.”

The introduction of smartphones, while preventing us from ever being bored again, has a lot to answer for by severely weakening our attention muscles, says Thatcher. “You look at your phone in a bar, instead of having a conversation with the person next to you. We’re now busy all the time even when it feels like a leisure activity.”


The answer is to strengthen our monotasking muscle. And it seems relatively simple. The 12 key points Thatcher covers in his book include reading for 15 minutes a day, walking ‘with no agenda’ and implementing a ‘no phones with food’ policy.

“We are rarely in the moment. So, concentrating on a book in print form, and not on a device, is an easy win. Taking a walk outdoors, preferably without your phone so that you can listen to birdsong, rather than a work conversation, is the essence of monotasking,” he says. “And resisting the temptation to bring your phone to the dinner table really pays off. It helps not only with mindful eating, but allows the family to give each other their undivided attention. Implement this rule for your children, too.”

Thatcher, a father of two teenagers, experienced his lightbulb moment seven years ago when he went through cancer, followed by a divorce. “I was trying to put my business, life and family back together and was exhausted and overwhelmed. My to-do list kept growing, but nothing was getting done. One day my daughter was stressed about her homework, so I decided to read to her. That simple act of reading a story and her fully listening made me realise I needed to pause, take a deep breath and just do one thing at a time.”


Retraining our brains can start right now. It can be as simple as not reading an email while in a work meeting (which I also file under ‘rude’!), enjoying the concert or the beautiful view by taking just one, rather than a million, pictures to show you’re there, or curling up in a designated comfy chair with a great thriller.

Go on, do it. Next time you watch TV, you might even remember who the killer is…

Marianne Jones is an award-winning journalist and former editor of “The Telegraph Magazine”, “The Sunday Telegraph Stella Magazine” and deputy of “Grazia”. She is the co-host of “Been There Done That Got The Podcast”. Follow her on Instagram @mariannejonesuk and @gotthepodcast