Why Your Brain Is Drowning (And the Hidden Friction Killing Your Best Work)

Open loops are the silent tax on your cognitive bandwidth. And most people are paying it without knowing it.

For over two years, I’ve been getting smashed, pummeled, and beat up on the BJJ mat.

And that’s fine. It’s what I signed up for.

I wanted to learn how to handle myself if my hapkido “circle” got invaded and I got taken down to the ground.

And of course—because I couldn’t run away in the first place—never forget the first rule of street combat: leave.

But for over two years, I’ve been dealing with the stress, pressure, and overwhelm of younger, stronger, bigger classmates using their size and strength to submit me.

And I’ve been learning something along the way.

Not just how to survive on the mat. But how to reduce the friction that was making everything harder.

For instance: I stopped relying only on my hands and arms to create space. I started using my feet and legs as tools. To create friction. To control. To make their advances, attacks, and submissions harder to execute.

So much so that now, even some of the purple belts are only submitting me a couple of times per round instead of the five to ten times when I first started.

That’s a win in my book.

And the lesson isn’t just about BJJ.

Friction is one of the most powerful forces in your life. Both on the mat and off it.

The right friction slows down your opponents. The wrong friction slows down you.

And the most insidious friction of all? The kind most people never see?

Open loops.

What Open Loops Actually Are

I first learned about open loops in David Allen's book, Getting Things Done.​

An open loop is any task, project, commitment, or concern that your brain has registered as “unfinished.”

And your brain doesn’t let go of unfinished things.

It keeps them active. Running in the background. Consuming cognitive resources even when you’re not consciously thinking about them.

Psychologists call this the Zeigarnik Effect—the tendency for the brain to remember and keep processing incomplete tasks more than completed ones.

Your brain is like a computer with too many tabs open.

Each open loop is a tab. And each tab is consuming memory, processing power, and battery life.

You might not be consciously aware of all the tabs. But they’re running. And they’re slowing everything down.

That’s why you feel mentally exhausted even when you haven’t done much.

That’s why you can’t focus even when you have time.

That’s why your best thinking seems to happen in the shower or on a walk—when you’ve temporarily stepped away from the environment that triggers all those open loops.

Your brain finally has enough bandwidth to think.

The Inbox That’s Never Empty

Here’s the thing about open loops that most people don’t realize:

Your inbox is never going to be empty.

Not your email inbox. Not your task list. Not your mental list of things you should be doing, could be doing, haven’t done yet.

It’s never going to be empty. And the moment you accept that, everything changes.

Because most people are carrying the emotional weight of an inbox they believe should be empty. They feel guilty every time they look at it. Overwhelmed by the gap between where they are and where they think they should be.

And that guilt and overwhelm is itself an open loop.

A loop that says:

Running constantly. In the background. Consuming bandwidth you need for actual work.

The fix isn’t to empty the inbox. The fix is to change your relationship with it.

To sort what must be handled from what can wait. And to carry the latter without the emotional baggage.

What Cognitive Load Actually Means

Cognitive load is the total amount of mental effort being used in your working memory at any given time.

And working memory is limited.

You can only hold so many things in active attention at once. When you exceed that capacity, performance degrades. Decision-making suffers. Creativity disappears. Focus becomes impossible.

Open loops are the primary driver of excessive cognitive load.

Every unfinished task, every unresolved concern, every uncommitted decision is adding to your cognitive load.

Even when you’re not thinking about it.

Because your brain is thinking about it. In the background. Constantly.

This is why David Allen’s Getting Things Done methodology is built around one core principle: capture everything.

Get it out of your head and into a trusted system. Not because the system will do the work. But because once it’s captured, your brain can let go of it.

The open loop is closed—not because the task is done, but because your brain trusts that it won’t be forgotten.

And that trust frees up bandwidth.

What I Learned on the Mat

Here’s how this played out in my BJJ training:

When I first started, I was trying to learn everything. Every position. Every submission. Every escape. Every transition.

And I was overwhelmed.

Not just physically. Cognitively.

Because every roll was a flood of open loops:

• I should be doing this.
• I should be defending that.
• I should know this position.
• Why don’t I know this position?

My cognitive load was maxed out. And when cognitive load is maxed out, you can’t execute.

You freeze. You muscle. You react instead of respond.

So I made a decision.

I wasn’t going to be good at everything. I didn’t have enough time in the day. My body couldn’t take all that stress and strain.

So I focused.

I identified the skills that made the most sense for my size, speed, and ability. Particularly using my feet and legs to maintain distance. Creating friction. Making it harder for bigger, stronger opponents to close the gap.

I closed the open loops on everything else.

Not by mastering them. By consciously deciding: “That’s not my priority right now. I’m not going to carry the cognitive weight of that gap.”

And my performance improved dramatically.

Not because I got better at everything. But because I got much better at a few things. And I stopped wasting bandwidth on the rest.

What I Learned in Construction

The same principle played out on the jobsite.

Early in my career, I tried to be a jack of all trades. To know everything. To be useful in every situation.

And I was mediocre at most of it.

Then I made a decision. I focused on BMS, HVAC, and fire alarm systems. And on small rigid-thread conduit—1/2" to 1"—for those systems when I worked on big commercial and industrial projects.

I became so good at those specific systems that I got more done, faster, with better results than the average electrician.

My work looked better. My speed was higher. My problem-solving was sharper.

Because I wasn’t carrying the cognitive load of trying to be everything.

I had closed the open loops on the things I wasn’t focusing on. Made a conscious decision: “That’s not my lane. I’m not going to carry the weight of that gap.”

And it kept me employed and in-demand through the feast and famine cycles of the construction economy.

Executive Function: The Resource You’re Burning

Executive function is the set of cognitive processes that allow you to plan, focus, remember instructions, and manage multiple tasks.

It’s your brain’s CEO.

And like any CEO, it has limited bandwidth. It can only handle so many decisions, so many priorities, so many open loops before it starts making poor choices.

This is why decision fatigue is real.

Why the quality of your decisions degrades as the day goes on. Why you make worse choices when you’re tired, stressed, or overwhelmed.

Because your executive function is depleted.

And open loops are one of the primary things depleting it.

Every unresolved decision. Every uncommitted task. Every “I should really get to that” is drawing from the same limited pool of executive function resources.

And when that pool is empty, you can’t do your best work.

You can’t think strategically. You can’t solve complex problems. You can’t lead effectively.

You’re just surviving. Reacting. Getting through the day.

How to Close Your Open Loops

Here’s how you reduce cognitive load, free up executive function, and do your best work:

Step 1: Capture everything.

Get every open loop out of your head and into a trusted system.

Not a mental list. A physical one. A notebook. A task manager. A reMarkable tablet.

• Every task.
• Every commitment.
• Every “I should really…”
• Every “I need to remember to…“

Get it out of your head. Into the system.

Your brain can stop trying to hold it. And start using that bandwidth for actual thinking.

Step 2: Sort ruthlessly.

Once everything is captured, sort it.

• What can wait?
• What must be handled?
• What can be delegated?
• What can be eliminated?

Not everything on your list deserves your attention. Most of it doesn’t.

The inbox is never going to be empty. So stop trying to empty it. Start trying to prioritize it.

Step 3: Close what you can. Consciously defer what you can’t.

For tasks you can’t do now, make a conscious decision:

Not “I’ll get to it eventually.” A specific commitment.

Because “eventually” is an open loop. “Next Tuesday at 2pm” is a closed one.

Your brain can let go of a specific commitment. It can’t let go of a vague one.

Step 4: Focus on your lane.

Like I did on the mat and on the jobsite—identify the skills, tasks, and priorities that are actually in your lane.

The things that match your strengths, your goals, your current season of life.

And consciously close the loops on everything else.

Not by abandoning them forever. But by making a clear decision: “That’s not my priority right now. I’m not carrying the cognitive weight of that gap.”

Step 5: Build a weekly review.

This is the maintenance practice that keeps the system working.

Once a week—I do it Sunday mornings—sit down with your system.

Review what’s open. Close what you can. Defer what you can’t. Eliminate what doesn’t matter.

And ask the three questions I’ve talked about before:

• Where am I?
• How did I get here?
• Where am I going?

This weekly review is what prevents the open loops from accumulating back into overwhelm.

Step 6: Protect your executive function.

Make your most important decisions early in the day. Before the cognitive load builds.

Eliminate unnecessary decisions. Same breakfast. Same morning routine. Same workout schedule. Not because variety is bad. But because every decision costs executive function.

Batch similar tasks. Email at specific times. Calls at specific times. Deep work at specific times. Context-switching is one of the biggest cognitive load multipliers there is.

Guard your attention. Every notification, every interruption, every distraction is an open loop being forced into your working memory. Turn them off. Protect the bandwidth.

The Friction Principle

Here’s the unifying principle behind all of this:

Friction is the enemy of performance.

On the mat, friction from bigger opponents slows you down. So you learn to create friction for them and reduce it for yourself.

In business, friction in the customer experience drives people away. So you eliminate it.

In your mind, friction from open loops slows your thinking, depletes your executive function, and prevents your best work.

So you close the loops. Capture everything. Sort ruthlessly. Focus on your lane.

Not because you’re giving up on the things you’re not focusing on.

But because carrying the cognitive weight of everything is the surest way to do nothing well.

The Challenge to Reduce Friction in Your Life

Here’s what I want you to do this week:

Do a brain dump.

Sit down with a notebook or a tablet. Set a timer for 20 minutes.

Write down every open loop in your head.

Every task. Every commitment. Every worry. Every “I should really…” Every unfinished project. Every unresolved conversation.

Get it all out. Don’t filter. Don’t organize. Just dump.

Then sort it.

What must be handled this week? What can wait? What can be delegated? What can be eliminated?

Then make specific commitments for the “must handle” items. And consciously defer the rest.

Notice how you feel after.

Lighter. Clearer. More focused.

That’s what happens when you close the open loops.

That’s what happens when you free up the bandwidth.

The Final Word

Your brain is not failing you.

It’s doing exactly what it’s designed to do.

• Keeping track of everything unfinished.
• Running every open loop in the background.
• Protecting you from forgetting.

But in the modern world, with its infinite demands and endless inboxes, that protective mechanism has become a liability.

It’s consuming the bandwidth you need for your best work.

The fix isn’t to work harder. It’s to close the loops.

Capture everything. Sort ruthlessly. Focus on your lane. Protect your executive function.

And accept that the inbox is never going to be empty.

Once you accept that, you can stop carrying the emotional weight of the gap.

And start using that bandwidth for the work that actually matters.

What open loops are you carrying right now that you could close today?

⚔ The Dojo Drill

Today’s training:

The Fear List

Write down 3 fears you’ve been avoiding.

Take one small action toward one today.

📚 Leader’s Library

Book I recommend this week:

​The War of Art – Steven Pressfield​

Why?

Because resistance is the invisible enemy.

🧠 Warrior Question

What’s one habit you know you should fix…

…but keep avoiding?

Hit reply and tell me.

I read every response.

🔥 Take the Warrior Self-Assessment Quiz

Want to know where you stand?

Take this week's 2-minute leadership assessment.

It will tell you your current belt level.

[Click Here for Free Self-Assessment Quiz]

🏯 Work With Me

If you want help building real discipline, direction, and leadership:

I offer:

• 1:1 coaching
• leadership systems
• warrior mindset training

Hit Reply and tell me what you need help with.

I read and respond to every inquiry.

Chuck