I have to say, I love that feeling of exiting many tabs after I’ve completed a task.
It could be that I was writing something and I’ve closed off all my research pages. Or I had to update my social pages so have clicked out of Facebook, LinkedIn, Google My Business and the master document. It just feels nice!
Next logical step
I see many clients with what appears like millions of tabs open at once. There may be some people who are genuinely not bothered but the research shows that it’s actually terrible for our focus on a subconscious level. I will ask my clients to tell me about the tabs and the conversation that follows tends to be about the next logical step.
“Oh, that’s done, I can close that.”
“This one I need to read at some stage.”
“That one is for research for a client.”
“That’s to remind me to update the details on my insurance.”
“I thought that was a great idea and I’d like to try it myself.”
These comments indicate that there are tasks and ideas that need to be sorted.
Copy the link
In order to help my client start sorting, I ask a follow-up question: “When will you do this?” or “What’s the deadline on that?” We then think about where the link needs to go. If there’s no time frame, it might get saved in their task management system for future ideas. But if there is a deadline we commit the task to my client’s calendar. Clients will copy the link and add it to a dedicated reading time event or create a stand-alone entry and save the link in the description area. Either way, we step away from a million open tabs and sort the information to its next step and when it will be needed.
In conclusion, if you aren’t needing to refer to a tab, close it. Have only what you are currently working on open. Your focus will thank you for it!
