You walk into a room and forget why you’re there.

Your partner asks you something simple and you need a second to locate the answer. You read the same email three times and still couldn’t tell someone what it said. You’re in a conversation and you can feel yourself half somewhere else the entire time.

This isn’t getting older. This isn’t stress exactly. This is what happens when you have too many tabs open.

Not the Chrome ones. Although yes, also those.

The mental ones.

The email you haven’t responded to that you’re keeping alive by replaying it every few hours. The thing you said to your kid last Tuesday that you’re still low-key processing. The project that’s technically not due for two weeks but is sitting in the background of everything you do. The conversation with your partner you’ve been putting off. The dentist appointment you’ve been meaning to schedule since January. The weird thing your body did last week that you Googled once and then tried to un-Google.

All of it running simultaneously. All of it using some slice of your processing power. All of it making you slightly less present in whatever you’re actually doing.

That’s dad brain. And for dads it’s worse than average. Because you’re not just running your own stuff. You’re running theirs too. School schedules. Sports logistics. Who needs new shoes. Whether that thing your kid said last week means something or nothing. Whether you’re doing enough. Whether you’re present enough. Whether you’re working too much or not enough.

It adds up fast.

What Too Many Tabs Actually Does to You

The research on cognitive load is pretty clear. The human brain isn’t built for true multitasking. What we call multitasking is actually rapid context switching, and every switch costs something. Attention residue, the technical term for it, is what happens when part of your brain stays on the previous task even after you’ve moved on.

That residue is the lag. The blank moment mid-conversation. The room you walked into for a reason you can’t place. That’s not a memory problem or an aging problem. That’s a too-many-tabs problem. And it compounds.

The more tabs you have open, the harder it is to fully engage with any of them. The work gets shallower. The conversations get thinner. The attention your kids get is technically there but not fully there.

They can feel that by the way. Kids are remarkably good at detecting the difference between a dad who is present and a dad who is present but running seven things in the background.

How to Actually Close Some Tabs

The obvious answer is less stuff. But that’s not realistic for most dads. The tabs exist because the responsibilities exist. You can’t just close the tab on school pickup or the project deadline.

What you can do is get more intentional about which ones stay open and how you manage the ones that do.

  • Write it down. The single most effective tab-closer there is. When something is living in your head as an open loop, it’s using memory resources to stay alive. The moment you write it down somewhere you trust, your brain lets go of it. Not completely, but enough. A running notes app, a paper list, a voice memo, whatever you’ll actually use. Get the loops out of your head and into a system.
  • Do the two-minute thing. If something can be handled in two minutes, handle it now instead of letting it become a mental tab. The email that just needs a one-line reply. The dentist appointment you’ve been putting off. The text you keep meaning to send. Close the tab. Do the thing.
  • Build a hard stop. Designate a time each day where work tabs close. Not just the laptop. The mental ones. 6pm, 7pm, whatever your life allows. After that time, if something surfaces, write it down and let it sit until tomorrow. Your brain needs to know there’s an endpoint, otherwise it keeps running in the background indefinitely.
  • Name the ones that won’t close. Some tabs won’t close because they’re actually important and need real attention. The conversation you’ve been avoiding. The decision you keep deferring. The thing that’s quietly eating at you. These won’t go away by ignoring them. Name them, schedule time for them, and deal with them directly. An open loop you’ve addressed is infinitely lighter than one you’re just carrying.
  • Use the transition. The drive home, the five minutes before you walk through the door, the gap between wherever work happens and wherever family happens. Use those as deliberate transitions. Not more podcast, not more content, not more input. A few minutes of nothing where your brain can actually process and offload before you show up to your family.

The Tab You Can’t Close

Here’s the one most dads don’t talk about.

There’s a background tab running pretty much constantly that never fully closes. It’s the one labeled “am I doing this right.” Am I present enough. Am I providing enough. Am I building something worth building. Is my kid okay. Is my marriage okay. Am I okay.

That one doesn’t close. And honestly, maybe it’s not supposed to.

But it gets lighter when everything else is managed better. When the logistics are out of your head and in a system. When the avoided conversations are actually had. When the work stops bleeding into the evening. The big existential tab becomes more manageable when the small administrative ones aren’t all running at the same time.

That’s the goal. Not a perfectly clear browser. Just enough clear space to actually show up when it counts.

Start with one tab. Close it today.

If you are a dad, you know the feeling. Life gets loud. Work deadlines. Kid schedules. A garage that looks like a Home Depot had a meltdown. Most of us are not short on things to do. We are short on intention.

Which is why Jesse Itzler hits so hard.

He is an entrepreneur, ultra endurance athlete, co founder of Marquis Jet, early partner at Zico Coconut Water, owner of the Atlanta Hawks, bestselling author, and creator of the famous Big Ass Calendar (worth a look if you have never seen it: ). He also happens to be a guy who built a big life while staying highly present as a husband and father.

His recent video titled If you want 2026 to be the best year of your life is basically Jesse handing you his entire operating system. It is simple, practical, and built to snap you out of autopilot.

Below is our hot take on it: useful, and written for dads who want a year they can actually remember living.

Why This Video Matters for Dads

Dads drift. It happens slowly. School pickups, work sprints, coaching soccer, a weekend Costco run. You look up and the whole year evaporated.

Jesse’s system stops the drift. It forces you to pause, reflect, clean house, and design a year instead of reacting to one.

This is not a vision board. It is a blueprint.

THE BIG IDEA: Play 2026 on Offense

Jesse’s philosophy:

If you do not plan the year, the year will plan itself. And you probably will not like the result.

Most dads live on defense. We respond to whatever hits our inbox, our calendar, or our kitchen table. Jesse flips it. He wants you attacking life, not absorbing it.

His method has three parts:

  1. Close out the year with intention.

  2. Identify what needs fixing.

  3. Schedule the good stuff first.

1. Close Out 2025 Like a Pro

Before you build 2026, Jesse wants you to clear the runway. Think of this as the dad version of cleaning the garage before starting a big project.

Do a What Worked and What Did Not Audit

Two columns. Be honest. What actually moved your life forward. What drained you. What you tolerated instead of solved.

Declutter Everything

Physical clutter. Digital clutter. Emotional clutter.
Clean the closet. Empty the junk drawer. Delete files you know you will never use. A clear environment creates momentum. A messy one steals it.

Handwritten Thank You Letters

This is Jesse’s superpower. He writes thank you letters to people who impacted his year.

It is old school. It is rare. And it builds real connection.

More important for dads. Your kids see you modeling gratitude and relationship building. That lines up perfectly with our Dad Day principle of creating a life worth copying.

Write five to ten letters. Keep them real and specific.

2. Run Your Life Through the Blender

Jesse’s Life Blender exercise is simple and brutally clarifying.

Rate the major areas of your life from one to ten.

  • Health
  • Marriage
  • Parenting
  • Fun
  • Career
  • Finances
  • Community
  • Personal Growth

Pick the two or three categories that need the most attention. Not everything should be a priority. Most dads score lowest on fun, health, marriage time, and personal adventure.

That is the signal. Those are your 2026 levers.

3. Build Your Year With Jesse’s Offense Trifecta

Here is where the magic happens. Jesse organizes his entire year using three tools that create momentum instead of waiting for it.

A. Mogis

These are your year defining accomplishments. The big wins you will remember years from now.

Examples:

  • Run a half marathon
  • Take a one on one trip with your kid
  • Start guitar lessons
  • Launch a side business
  • Repair a relationship
  • Complete a 75 day challenge

Pick two to four. No more.

B. Kevin’s Rule

Every sixty days you schedule one new experience. Something you have never done before.

This is the antidote to the dad rut.

Ideas
-Go to a jujitsu class
-Go to a concert with your teenager
-Take a cooking class
-Camp in the backyard with your kid
-Visit a city you have never seen

Newness keeps you awake. It also shows your kids that adulthood is not a slow fade into routine.

C. One Winning Habit Per Quarter

Not ten habits. One habit every ninety days.

Examples
Q1: 10,000 steps per day
Q2: Phone free bedroom
Q3: Weekly date night
Q4: Strength training

Stack four habits and you are a completely different dad by next December.

4. Use the Big Ass Calendar to Schedule the Fun First

This is Jesse’s signature move.

Most dads plan the year like this:

  • Work
  • Kids’ activities
  • Random obligations
  • Maybe a little time for yourself if anything is left

Jesse plans it like this:

  • Fun
  • Mogis
  • Adventures
  • Family experiences
  • Then work fills in the remaining space

It is simple. If you do not aggressively schedule the life you want, someone else will.

That is why his Big Ass Calendar is so effective. You can see the entire year at a glance. You cannot hide from blank space.

Color code it
-Blue for family adventures
-Red for personal Mogis
-Green for health habits
-Yellow for work
-Black for personal reset days

When you schedule the meaningful stuff first, life gets better instantly.

The Takeaway: Build a Year Your Kids Will Remember You Living

This system is not about productivity. It is about presence.

Your kids do not need a perfect dad. They need a dad who is awake. A dad who is intentional. A dad who takes action. A dad who builds a life worth copying. (Our past Dad Day newsletters echo this exactly. Kids watch the pattern. Not the perfection. )

Jesse’s method is your blueprint.

  • Audit the past.
  • Plan the future.
  • Put the fun on the calendar early.
  • Live on offense.

Your kids are watching. Give them something worth imitating.