This morning at the gym, three of the five people in my line of sight were looking down at their phones doing who knows what — trolling Facebook, reading email, texting. What they weren’t doing was working out. Using this sample, 60 percent of the people who are getting up at o-dark-thirty with the best of intentions to get a workout in before starting the day only are sabotaging the effectiveness of that workout by multitasking their way through it.

Technology has us all living in a world of endless distractibility. It’s not surprising that the No. 1 request I get from salespeople is for help with time management.

The Multitasking Myth

The day is finite. No one gets more than 24 hours in a day, so it’s what we do with the time we have that sets us up for success or failure in sales. And the number one obstacle to managing our time effectively is multitasking.

Here’s why. Despite the corporate world’s reverence of multitasking as an indicator of success (ever see a job description without “strong ability to multitask required” in it?), the brain simply isn’t wired for it. It turns out we just don’t have the bandwidth.

Need proof ? Google “multitasking” and you’ll find a plethora of scientific evidence refuting the brain’s ability to multitask. University of Michigan Cognitive Scientist Dr. David Meyer, one of the country’s leading experts on multi-tasking, says “counter to common belief, you can’t do two cognitively complicated tasks at once. When you’re on the phone and writing an e-mail at the same time, you’re actually switching back and forth between them, since there’s only one mental and neural channel through which language flows. If you have a complicated task, it requires all your attention, and if you’re trying to spread your attention over multiple tasks, it’s not going to work.”

The concept is catching on. Some states have banned cell phone use entirely while driving because when we’re on the phone our brain is focused on the conversation, not on the road, and bad things can happen.

To be clear, multitasking means doing two or more unrelated things at the same time. We can do multiple things, we just can’t do them at the same time and expect to do them well.

Manage the Distractions

Success in sales starts with working close to the money when it counts. To do that, we must manage the distraction factor. In short, we have to help our brains help us. The key is to set up the day in a way that enables us to run hard on one task for a while then put it aside and run hard on another, and then another, and so on.

Here are three ways to make technology work for your brain to help you  work closer to the money:

1. Set up your electronic calendar. Organize your tasks in three buckets: research, business development, and administrative work. Schedule a recurring “appointment” with time allotted for each bucket and put the corresponding tasks in the notes. When a reminder pops up, it’s time to disengage from one bucket of tasks and move to another. For example, if you’re reading email and it’s time for business development, the reminder will prompt you to switch focus.

2. Set up dedicated phone time. Schedule one hour of dedicated phone time in your business development bucket (which should be the bucket with the most time allocated!). Yes, we reach buying influences through email, texting, LinkedIn, Twitter and more today, but staffing is a relationship business and relationships are nurtured personally, not just digitally. It’s amazing how many calls you can make in one “power hour” that will never happen if not scheduled.

3. Manage “TMEI” (too much electronic information). Create a rule to download email every 15 minutes instead of real time so you’re not constantly distracted by that pop-up in the corner of your screen. Direct non-essential email to a junk folder and then schedule time to review the folder every Friday afternoon (you don’t need to know about the upcoming sale at Macy’s while you’re busy prospecting).

Multitasking is a myth. Help your brain out so it doesn’t manage you and you’ll be more productive and effective. Oh, and remove “strong ability to multitask required” from your job descriptions!