YOUR BRAIN IS NOT A BROWSER WITH 47 TABS
Close them all. Focus on one thing. Here's the neuroscience of why multitasking is literally lowering your IQ.
The modern workspace is designed to fracture your attention. We wear our multi-tasking abilities like a badge of honor, but neuroscience tells a different story. Every time you switch contexts—from code to Slack, from Slack to email, from email back to code—you are paying a 'cognitive switching penalty'.
This penalty isn't just time lost. It's a degradation of IQ. Studies show that heavy multitaskers perform worse on cognitive tasks than those who focus on a single stream of information. Your brain isn't parallel processing; it's rapid serial switching, and it's exhausting your glucose reserves.
The solution is radical: Single-tasking. One window. One objective. Zero notifications. Treat your attention like a finite resource, because it is. If you wouldn't let a stranger walk into your office and scream in your face, why do you let a push notification do it?
To reclaim your brain, start by auditing your open loops. Close the tabs. Snooze the inbox. Create a 'Monk Mode' block in your calendar where you are unreachable. The world will survive 90 minutes without you.