Productivity Boost: Reuse Browser Windows
Too Many Tabs
I'm told tabbed browsing is a wonderful innovation, because you don't clutter your taskbar with a lot of boxes, and you don't have a lot of windows open. It always seemed to me that the clutter is simply moved from the taskbar (or desktop) to the browser window itself.
Firefox recently added an "enhancement" to add arrow buttons to scroll horizontally through your tabs. Sheesh!
Reuse Browser Tabs
Here's a better idea that I have been trying out lately: Reuse Browser Tabs. The idea is simply this: work on one thing until you're done with it. Then, go to the address bar, and type in the address of the next thing you want to work on. Repeat.
If you recall, this is how it used to be before tabs, and how it still is for techno-phobes who don't use tabbed browsing. Could it be that non-savvy, non-tab browsing users are on to something?
Batching
This concept is not enough by itself; you have to add batching. Take email, for example. If you're a reader of Tim Ferriss' Four Hour Work Week, or his blog you're familiar with his concept of Checking Email Twice a Day (or once every 10 days!). The idea behind it all is batching. Letting email pile up, then working through it all in once sitting.
This changes the way you write emails. You start to write messages that do not require a response. Many things can be batched online. You can let adsense gather data for a whole day or a whole week before checking it. You can spend two hours focussed on your banking to set up automatic payments, then ignore it for a week.
(My Dad is now about to bitch in the comments form about me asking him not to cash an auto-payment check on that loan I have to him. Time to take out the comments form! Time to re-read the Live as if Your Father is Dead chapter of 
In brief: Do one thing at a time. Finish. Reuse browser window. Let me know if this is a productivity boost for you!
Trackback: http://philsown.org/2007/08/productivity-boost--reuse-browser-windows/trackback
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