I have a problem, and that problem is tabs. Too many tabs. Duplicate tabs. Extra windows, each with their own collections of tabs. I have tabs that are opened in response to tabs. I have tabs that I’ve opened but never did anything with. I have tabs that i don’t remember opening.
Once, I had a window with over 20 tabs. And more than half of them? Just new. 11 pristine, empty tabs, doing nothing, serving no purpose, just sitting there, wasted potential, taking up RAM, simply to exist.
“Just close them” one might say “it’s easy – you don’t need that many tabs.”
“Or just close a tab when you are done with it! That’s the best way to go about these things.”
I can’t do that! I might need those tabs again soon! What if i need to reference something I looked up thirteen days ago? What if I need to reference 25 of the same site, thirteen days ago? I’ll never find them again.
The problem with tab-madness
It might not seem like a big deal to have so many tabs open, especially if you’re not actively working on something that involves a hidden window or “other” tabs. It is though – that ‘chaos’ is there, churning in the background, serving as a reminder that something is unfinished (even if the task is complete). It’s challenging to stay focused and on task when other tasks are vying for your attention.
A solution to the tab-pocalypse
I realized something recently – while I can’t easily change the behavior in the moment (it’s counter-productive for me to try to change something like “open a new tab to research x, instead of reusing a past tab”) – what I can do is change the behavior at “breakpoints” in my day / week / life.
What are breakpoints? In programming terms, a breakpoint is a tool that allows a developer to pause the execution of a program at a specific point. This is commonly used to troubleshoot or inspect the state of the application at that time. In my own life, I view a breakpoint as something like switching tasks, waking up in the morning, starting to cook breakfast, etc.
So to combat the tab madness, (and the general miasma of chaos soup that comes from doing different tasks!) I’ve developed a new process, and so far it’s working great.
Close. Everything.
That’s right – when I switch tasks now, I close everything. Every tab. Every window. Every email. Even if the task that I am switching to uses the same software, I shut it all down.
You might think that this would be counter productive, or even extremely destructive to my effectiveness and ability to accomplish goals and tasks. It’s actually quite the opposite! Closing everything gives me an opportunity to “wipe the slate clean” so to speak. It also forces me to take the time to organize thoughts, write notes, file emails, and other things that I can find myself “forgetting”, or “running out of time” to do.
There are some exceptions of course. If there’s a quick email that i need to reply to, I simply pause for a moment, handle the email, and resume the task i was on. If i get distracted during those exceptions, i can use the P.A.C.E. Method to get back on track. Emergencies are of course exempt.
Surprisingly, though, even the act of “reopening” everything if i need to revisit a task or when i have to start on another phase of a project is actually more helpful in reorganizing my thoughts, and ramping back up to full speed again.
What I consider breakpoints
Here are many the things I consider “breakpoints” which warrant a full tear-down and restart of a task or environment. Some might be a bit surprising.
- Mealtimes (yep, when i go to lunch (or when I get back) everything gets closed and re-opened even if I am working on the same thing)
- Going to the gym
- Meetings – of any kind, and importantly, of any length. 50 minutes or 5 minutes – everything is closed.
- Phone calls that last longer than 5 minutes
- Going for a walk
- Switching to email / administrative mode
- Unexpected interruptions – impromptu meetings, emergencies that require a shift in thought processes, “water cooler” conversations that last longer than a few minutes, etc
What do you think? Does this resonate with you at all? How do you deal with digital dreck and clutter?
TL;DR
I’ve been waging war against an army of browser tabs, a true tab-pocalypse. A result of “productivity” and just plain-old momentum and distracted-ness, my tab count tends to be excessive. But then, lightbulb moment: I start using “breakpoints” in my day, like meal times or switching tasks, as a chance to massacre all my tabs (and everything else related to that project) and start afresh. Turns out, this simple strategy of hitting the reset button is a game-changer. My digital life is less cluttered, my brain is thanking me, and I’m actually getting stuff done. Who knew?
