Too many tabs: Am I strangling my progress?
As humans, we do multi-tasking better than any other animal. We still don't do it very effectively.
After all, our minds were designed to take on one serious problem at a time, like:
I will escape from the hungry bear... or
I will find water to drink...
Since our ancient ancestors had multiple goals: immediate survival, propagation of the species, prepare for survival next week, etc., they developed multi-tasking abilities to support long term goals like shelter, after achieving short term goals like escaping from the bear.
This supported an ability to get both long term and short term things done, but there are compromises. Work on building a shelter is much more efficient if it isn't interrupted by a need to run away from a bear. Efficiency and quality of the lower priority task suffers, but if you live to work on it, you can accept some quality and schedule problems. At least, you do 'something' for the non-urgent project, even if it isn't that great.
Fast forward a few millennia, and we have very few bears to worry about, but far too many goals related to shelter, propagation of the species and a bunch of stuff that ancient ancestors didn't know or care about. The fact that we must escape from the bear was obvious, they knew it was priority number one. Choices we make about working, learning, playing, eating, etc. are not so clear in terms of priority.
When I leave an article, post or e-commerce site with the intention to return later, I'm not so sure what the priority of that action or learning might be. It is nothing like escaping a bear, or even finding berries for fending off hunger. It's no wonder that I can open too many of those sessions, without closing enough of the others; that's multitasking edging toward chaos.
Too many tabs or too many browser sessions, too many open documents or a REALLY messy desk are prescriptions for distraction. They slow my computer, send me on too many side trips and blur my vision of a crisp, well-structured work plan. They support a work approach that addresses dozens of projects while completing none of them. When I can manage to get something done, it is harder to do, takes longer to complete, and is just not a good as I could do with real focus.
I should know better, since my Algebra 1 teacher taught the basic principle several decades ago:
Always start with a clear desk and a stack of fresh, clean paper - before the page gets cluttered, throw it away and start over with a clean sheet.
It worked well for algebra 1, and a similar approach can do wonders for progress at affiliate marketing. It just demands that I set priorities, acknowledge that I can't do it all, and don't leave more than a half dozen tabs open... I'm going to stick by this multi-task-limiting management approach; Please wish me luck!
Recent Comments
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Steve, you would not approve of the number of tabs I have open now!!! 16! To be fair I was doing research on magnesium, zinc and niacin for inflammation and I have Amazon Associates, WA, Google Analytics, Twitter...yeah...lots of stuff...uggg.
I can relate, as I've always got several research topics going at once, and typically have at least one blog post underway and a WA blog, etc., along with a bunch of other stuff. Part of the problem is that I'm interested in too many things... It's about FOCUS.
16 tabs is not a big deal, Jessica... I've had times in the last week when I had that many in my cleanest browser session, while the other 5 Chrome sessions and 2 Firefox sessions (all active at once) were FAR worse...
Recognizing the problem is a good start, and working to whittle it down is over half the battle. I'm working on the other half :-)
Wow! I thought I was bad!! You are worse! Ha ha! Thanks!
I am the same way. I am interested in news, world events, local, state and federal issues (I work in State government also), weather and climate (my schooling is in Ocean and Coastal Studies and I study ecological effects of climate, ocean acidification etc.), WA of course, my website on cats, history, science, cooking, gardening and on and on and on!
Steve, you‘ve hit the point of what I‘m struggling with: too many projects going on, “too many tabs open“, slows me down and prevents me to think clearly.
I‘m now clearing my work desk, finishing my side projects and looking forward to fully concentrate on my main goal, becoming
successful in the online marketing business.
Thanks for helping me to keep on track!
:-)
Ahh multitasking is a challenge. The better we are at it, the more of it we wind up doing, until we run out of time, space or computer power. I think it is a corollary of Parkinson's Law.
But you are on top of it, Pernilla - I'm confident you will get things under control soon, as you are focused.
I'm hopeful that I will too.
I'm pretty good at closing tabs that I don't need open. I am very good at multitasking, though. I used to be a paramedic and having to multitask is a given in that profession.
That makes sense, Anita, as paramedics are trained to understand where the bear is and how to avoid being eaten. The trouble with your browser is that there is no bear and no patient in mortal danger. Keep that tab closing discipline, as I'm sure it will serve you well. A bit like triage, I would think...
Yes, a bit like triage. I did the same when I was researching papers when I was in school to become a paramedic.
That's my "weakness" too. I usually have an insane amount of tabs and documents opened at all times. That's the way I work. From dashboards to articles I have partially read, a few WA articles I have yet to read, stats, emails, you name it, it's open. It gets worse the more monitors you have.
However, because of this, I have an insane amount of RAM installed on my PC as well. I also have a system monitor going to see what resources I am using up. Yes, this PC works for a living. :)
David
I only have one monitor hooked up to each computer, but I have multiple computers, and on each I often have multiple chrome browser sessions or firefox sessions or both... I have this issue on my Windows 7 boxes, Windows 10 boxes, but my Ubuntu Linux machines are relatively clean - go figure.
I am reforming, however. Multitasking is an interesting game, but it eventually eats up all the resources of both your computer(s) and your mind. I am certain that I will see better progress with some restraint...
Steve
Want to look at my computer?hahaha...And I still accomplish things...Some things quicker, some slower, but anyway..:))
Yes Vera, you and I get it done by sheer force of will, despite the obstacles we create for ourselves. I'm greedy, though - I want to get more done with less pain, so I'm determined to create fewer obstacles (Chip is enough of an obstacle, here in my lap while I try to type...).
Yep. Bur with me, it's more about inspiration. I might be preparing myself for a long time(procrastinating, in a way), and then do things quiye quickly... It depends. But I mean to say open tabs is not the worst thing in life. Combined with cats, though?
I'm glad I'm not the only one with tabs open that I plan to go back to later. I use it as a system though. I do go back through and close those I can't remember why I needed them, once a week.
With Grace and Gratitude
Karen
I guess we are all subject to this temptation to some degree, Karen. At least you have a system, even if it leaves you a bit sluggish on Fridays :-)
I too leave either tabs or emails open. I do try to force myself to go through them all at day's end to start the next day fresh.
Cleaning them out daily sounds effective to me, Jeannine. The one time in my past when I had things really well organized I was using a time management system that forced me to create priorities, an action plan and files for everything before each workday started.
It worked great, but that was decades before the temptation of e-mail, much less Wikipedia, google and facebook...
Kudos to you for daily closure!
Steve
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Thank you for sharing this, I suffer from "too-many-tabs"-iasis too!
My friends used to make fun of me and roll their eyes when they would glimpse at my laptop - 2 Chrome browsers stacked, with 15+ tabs each!
A certain habit that I still can't shake off completely is opening my email's inbox in the morning and going through the new WA posts and the Medium feed. I open every post that interests me into a new tab and I try to read them all. If only the day had 50 hours instead of just 24! lol
But recently, every night before turning my laptop off, I'm trying to finish the day's browsing sessions with no more than 5 tabs open. It's hard to prioritize, especially when you have so many interests and you're prone to multi-tasking and short attention span!
Nevertheless, there are techniques to get you in the zone and keep you focused on a single project, and they really work if you apply them. It takes determination though!
I think we have the same challenge - my interest, like physics, encompasses nearly everything. I always see possibilities, so it is tough to let go of something that could be educational, profitable to the key to a better way - instead it becomes an open tab :-(
It could be worse... If I used a super-computer with multiple ultra-HiRes monitors I'd likely get to a stage of a dozen browser sessions with dozens of open tabs in each - the only question would be - which will crash first, the computer or my brain...
I'm working hard to whittle down the tab clutter, but any rules or other tricks that have worked for you would be most appreciated. It is nearly as tough to decide on a process for limiting tab clutter as it is to kiss goodbye to a powerful article, or media post for lack of time to fully explore it...
I know your pain! It could be worse, yes.. In that super-computer case, I think it's our brains that would crash first! Unless we found a way to utilize more percentage of them. Or eliminate the need to sleep!
About other tricks and methods... Maybe bookmark the ones you really, like really, want to read. Every weekend, give yourself a couple of hours to go through them and catch up. By Sunday night, delete (or archive in a "To-Read" folder) the ones you haven't had the time to read. And start the process all over again on Monday?
Too much to read - too little time!
I agree, Nicky - my brain would probably throw in the towel... I like that bookmark and clean-up later trick, though I doubt I would actually make the clean up part happen... I do use bookmarks now, but not as much as I should.
One I could use for sure would be a push down stack of bookmarked sites/projects. I've not seen such a system built into a browser, but if it exists I'd change browsers to get access to it.
Not sure if you know about push-down stacks or LIFO queues (Last In First Out), but they are an old, common data structure used in systems programming - essentially they are a place where you can put an unlimited number of items (variables, addresses, tab urls, etc.) where the last one on (the youngest one) is always available, and if you pop (remove the top item) it off, the one on top is the one you put on the stack (pushed) just before it, and so forth. At the bottom of the stack is the oldest item; the one you pushed (placed on the stack) first.
The beauty of the LIFO queue is that it is quick and easy to use, and nothing is ever lost, it is just deeper down in the stack. If I had such a stack for my tabs, I could easily keep the count down, I believe, as I'd never have to consciously abandon a useful path - only postpone and let time take its' toll.