Task switching isn’t laziness – it’s your brain paying a real switching cost. Each flip leaves attention residue that tanks focus and manufactures fatigue.
The story
Task switching makes me feel “busy” and also weirdly fried. That’s not a character flaw. It’s my brain paying a real switching cost.
🟢 Your brain isn’t multitasking, it’s alt-tabbing
My brain doesn’t run two focus-heavy things at once; it flips between them, like an old computer pausing one thing to deal with another. Each flip leaves “attention residue,” little mental crumbs from the last task that keep tugging at my focus. Which leads directly to slower thinking, more mistakes, and that scattered, slightly panicky “where was I?” feeling.
Notice how these overlap? Performance drops and mental health drops often ride in the same car. Constant switching cranks up mental bandwidth costs, burns through short-term memory, and looks like speed while quietly manufacturing fatigue, indecision, and overwhelm. Deep focus works partly because it stops the bleeding.
What helps me, in real life, if I actually do it:
1] Single-task, ruthlessly – one demand at a time.
2] Timebox focus blocks, then take tiny resets like a short eye rest or a few slow breaths.
3] Offload to paper – a simple list or a three-item “anchor” for the day.
4] Simplify my environment – fewer pings, fewer visual piles, clearer boundaries.
5] Treat focus like mental health care, not a productivity flex.
Recent Comments