Sometimes we find great analogies in the simplest things, and I think I’ve found a great way to look at life using Google Chrome tabs.

A bit of context first.

Inside your computer, there are lots of different components, but there are two that I want to tell you about.

The first one is the CPU which stands for the central processing unit. It’s like the brain of your computer and controls how fast your computer runs.

The second one is called RAM which stands for random access memory. It’s short-term storage. Everything that is currently ‘open’ or ‘running’ on your computer, is stored here.

Now, the reason I have told you this is because we can use these computer components to model our brain.

You can visualize the CPU as the mental resources that your brain has to be able to perform daily tasks.

And RAM is like your focus or attention span. It’s the number of thoughts that your brain can think about at once.

Now back to the analogy.

We’ve probably all had times when our browser windows look something like this:

When we have this many tabs open, each tab is vying for resources to keep its content running

This means that the RAM has to be divided between all the tabs.

Remember, RAM is like our focus or attention span. And the Chrome tabs are like the thoughts floating around your brain.

The more thoughts that are occupying your brain, the more your focus gets split between tasks.

The same thing happens with the CPU. It has to flick between all the random processes that are going on in the background, so there is less processing power available for each tab.

In the same way, your mental resources become divided between these thoughts, and your ability to act on any one thought will plummet.

Just like a computer, the brain has a finite amount of capacity, so both have to divide and prioritize their resources.

You might have noticed this when you sit down to perform a mentally demanding task, but you can’t seem to concentrate because your brain is ruminating on something else.

You simply have too many Chrome tabs open.

One difference between your brain and a computer is that a computer is much better than your brain at dealing with multiple processes open at once.

This means, that on your computer, you can have quite a few tabs open before you notice any significant performance decrease.

But in your brain, focus and performance will decrease exponentially with every extra thought that you juggle in your mind.

This is one of the biggest reasons most people are unable to be productive or will procrastinate for hours on end.

If you only have one thought in your brain, your productivity and success will increase by 100x.

Because, just like having only one Chrome tab open, 100% of your focus, attention, and mental resources can be channeled toward that one thought.

And in an era where everyone’s mind is overflowing with random thoughts because of tik tok and social media, this is how you separate yourself from the 99%

So what can you do to start clearing out the Chrome tabs in your brain?

One of the easiest things I found that significantly reduced my mental clutter, was to take out my phone and write a note to myself whenever I had an insightful thought.

I have a page on my phone called ‘action steps’ where I write down thoughts that I think will be beneficial for me to take action on in the future.

I do this because our short-term memory is very short — about 15–30 seconds.

That means that if I don’t write it down, the thought will likely vanish after 30 seconds.

And even if I manage to hold on to the thought by reminding myself every few seconds, my focus will be entirely diverted towards trying not to forget. Performing any other mentally demanding task will become impossible.

Another even more powerful tool is meditation.

If writing your thoughts down on a notes app is like closing a tab one by one, meditation is like pressing ‘x’ on the entire browser.

Meditation is the art of clearing out all the thoughts and centralizing your focus on one specific thing.

Often, this is your breath.

Doing this will provide you with a blank slate from which to develop your thoughts again in a more organized manner.

Your mind is your most valuable resource by far.

Yet most people don’t invest as much time into organizing and caring for it as they should.

It’s a powerful but vulnerable place. Guard what enters very carefully.

Most of the time, the thoughts we have daily govern the outcome of our lives.

Having the least amount of thoughts occupy your conscious mind will shield you from the barrage of destructive thoughts that may come your way, and let you take advantage of the constructive ones.

You will become a superhuman. Trust me.