You can’t hear yourself think with ten tabs, two earbuds and a group project open. Close something.

Attention does not divide as neatly as it feels like it does. With a dozen tabs open, music in both ears and a group chat running, nothing gets your whole head, and the thinking that needs a clear run never gets one. It feels productive because something is always happening. Closing things is not a loss of capacity, it is how any of it gets finished.

Before your next real stretch of work, close everything except what you need and put the phone in another room. One task, twenty-five minutes. See how much further you get than in an hour of the usual arrangement.