How to Achieve Browser Tab Zero
Picture this scene that happens at least 7 times per work day. I’m about to post something on a social media channel and I see an article that a friend shared about ‘15 Books to Read this Weekend’ or ‘How to Get Clients to Beg for Your Advice’ or ‘Why Millennials and Boomers Steal ALL the Attention from GenXers.’
The article intrigues me, but I don’t want to get distracted from the task at hand—my followers are demanding more pickle stories, damn it! The solution? I pause for a moment, right click and select Open Link in New Browser Window. The result? I end up with way more windows open than are sensible or easily navigated.
Frequently, my computer runs slower than a tortoise, which frustrates me. I know on some level that the delay is caused by my negligence, but I continue to open more and more tabs. I counted earlier today, and I had 28 tabs open. It’s only been a couple days since I sorted through and closed out all but 10, but here I am approaching 30 yet again. Out of frustration, I tweeted about my predicament.
The response was swift and revealed that I am not alone in this practice. I also got some suggestions on how to deal with this ranging from apps to Chrome plugins, as well as this gem from my pal, Mark:
YEAH RIGHT! This is NEVER going to happen. If I’m too lazy to read something that’s been hanging in my browser for 8 days, I can’t imagine I’ll get around to summarizing and logging it in a spreadsheet. You’re clearly a better person than me, @MarC_Avgi. Thanks for the suggestion…
As more and more people responded, I started thinking about how I couldn’t begin to remember what those articles were about. If they were so important, so urgent that I’d allow them to interrupt my work flow, shouldn’t I be willing to do what Mark suggested? And if not, why was I bothering to save them anyway?
I suppose those articles fall into the category of “person I wish I was” instead of “person I really am.” I’m pretty sure we’re all guilty of this, at least occasionally—checking out overly ambitious books from the library, keeping clothes that are two sizes too small, buying crispy seaweed chips even though they’re nearly inedible. The only purpose this aspirational and wholly unrealistic version of myself serves is to remind me of everything I’ll never be.
When I pretend I’ll read some astrophysics research paper or a 800,000 word study on employee engagement I set myself up for failure and eventually feeling worse about myself than if I didn’t know either of those things existed. While both of those are worthwhile, they’re mostly a distraction from the projects that deserve my attention. The more I considered how these tabs eat away at my self esteem and productivity, the more I decided to take swift action.
After some contemplating and joking with my new friend, Ian Rhys aka @ConsultBox, I proposed we close all of our tabs without reading or reviewing in any way. So that’s precisely what we did. And the best thing happened, for both of us—Freedom.
You can feel this freedom too. I invite you to join the #BrowserTabZero movement. All it takes is a few short steps:
No matter how many tabs you have open, close them all without regard for what you may be missing. No peeking.
Do not open a page in a new tab unless you intend to read, process, review or deal with that tab in some way before stepping away from your computer.
Each night before going to bed, review all tabs and close down your browser.
Enjoy #BrowswerTabZero freedom.
Now, let’s see how long I can keep this up. I think the Vegas odds are until 2:45pm Wednesday…
