# The Context Switching Protocol ## A Survival Guide for Brains That Can't "Just Do It" **By Jay Drake | Drake Enterprise** --- ### What This Is I have ADHD. "Just focus" never worked. "Just try harder" made it worse. So I built a system. Not an app. Not a SaaS. Just a protocol that accounts for how my brain actually works—not how neurotypical productivity gurus think it should work. This protocol has saved me 2-4 hours per day. Not because I'm doing more. Because I'm stopping less. --- ### The Three Practices #### 1. Shutdown Rituals Your brain doesn't switch contexts. It abandons them mid-thought and leaves threads dangling like open browser tabs. Before you switch tasks, run a shutdown: - Write down exactly where you stopped (file, line, thought) - Set a re-entry note: "When I come back, start here" - Close the literal tab/window if possible - Take 30 seconds of intentional nothing (no phone, no music, no input) **Why it works:** You're not trying to remember where you were. You're leaving breadcrumbs for your future self. --- #### 2. Context Containers Every task needs a physical or digital container that holds EVERYTHING related to it. | Context | Container | |---------|-----------| | Deep work | One full-screen app, phone in another room | | Email | Dedicated 20-min block, separate inbox folder | | Creative work | Specific playlist, specific desk position | | Admin | Standing desk, timer visible, checklist ready | **The rule:** Never mix containers. If you're in deep work container and an admin thought appears, write it on a sticky and return to it during admin block. **Why it works:** Your brain uses environmental cues to retrieve context. Same environment = same task = less switching cost. --- #### 3. Energy Accounting Stop pretending you have infinite willpower. You have a budget. Spend it consciously. **The Energy Ledger:** - Rate every task 1-10 on mental effort (1 = automatic, 10 = creating from nothing) - Rate your current energy 1-10 - Match them: 3-energy brain gets 1-3 effort tasks. Save 8-10 effort tasks for 8-10 energy windows. **The rule:** A 3-energy brain forcing a 9-effort task isn't heroic. It's self-sabotage. Do the 2-effort task instead. Momentum compounds. --- ### Quick Start (5 Minutes) 1. Pick ONE context you switch into/out of most often (work, creative, caregiving, etc.) 2. Design one shutdown ritual for it 3. Assign one physical container to it 4. Track your energy for 3 days before trying to optimize That's it. Don't implement all three practices at once. Pick one. Run it for a week. Then add the next. --- ### What This Is NOT - Not a cure for ADHD - Not a replacement for medication, therapy, or accommodation - Not a productivity system designed by someone who thinks "just make a list" is helpful advice This is a damage-mitigation protocol. It won't make your brain neurotypical. It will make the gap between what you want to do and what you actually do smaller. --- ### About the Author Jay Drake is a solo entrepreneur, autistic parent of neurodivergent kids, and builder of systems that account for brains that work differently. He founded Drake Enterprise to create tools that leave people more autonomous than before—including the humans who build them. --- *The cause is creation. Money is the consequence.* *Drake Enterprise, LLC | 2026*