MIT Sloan Management Review Article on The Impossibility of Focusing on Two Things at Once

Ever hear a recommendation from a manager that you need to “be more of a strategic thinker”? The feedback might initially seem surprising or even insulting if you feel like you already have been working hard to do your job well. In deciphering your manager’s advice, you might realize that it is a call to maximize your individual performance while enhancing organizational success.

The problem is that your brain is not hardwired to focus simultaneously on specific, day-to-day activities and more collective, long-term objectives. Neurological science has demonstrated that the human brain is incapable of focusing on two things at once.