Singletasking

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The practice of focusing on a single task at any given moment to enhance productivity and effectiveness
2. An approach to work that emphasizes completing one assignment before moving on to another, minimizing distractions
3. Engaging in one specific activity without multitasking, thereby increasing concentration and task performance

Etymology: "Singletasking" is a plain compound of "single" and "task," with the "-ing" ending that turns the phrase into a noun for an activity. It is formed by analogy with "multitasking," the older term for doing several things at once, which was taken up in computing before it spread to everyday speech. "Singletasking" is the deliberate counterpart: a name for the practice of concentrating on one job at a time, coined to describe a habit people had to specify once multitasking became the norm. The word is a modern formation, and its exact first use is uncertain, so the sense it carries is best understood from the contrast it was built to mark. Where "multitasking" first described a computer's ability to run several processes at once, "singletasking" names the human choice to resist that pattern. Its meaning has stayed close to its parts: a single task, attended to alone.

Synonyms: focused work, single-tasking

Antonyms: multitasking, juggling