Most of us do it all the time -- we multi-task.

We check our e-mail while we talk on the phone and eat our lunch. It's the way a lot of us deal with too much to do in too little time.

We think we can do it all -- juggling several balls at once. Guess what? It's a myth. We can't.

"We tend to perform poorly and take longer to accomplish our goals," says Dr. Orly Avitzur, associate medical editor at Consumer Reports.

"And I have to tell you when I discovered this by reviewing the studies; I was quite disappointed because I, too, think I've been doing it my entire life."

Now pay attention, because here's the real shocker: Research done by the University of Michigan and the Federal Aviation Administration have found that it can take two to four times longer to do several things at once -- compared with doing them one after another.

"It's better to do one thing at a time and keep focused and at the end of the day, you'll have accomplished more."

By the way, we become even less efficient when we're sleep deprived or stressed and try to multi-task.

For More Information:

The Grand Seduction of Multitasking