What does it mean that context stacking?

When multiple contexts are active simultaneously identify which one is primary.

Example: You're on a video call with your team discussing a product launch while simultaneously holding: a message from your child's school that arrived two minutes ago, a performance review you need to write by end of day, and a growing awareness that the architecture decision you made last week might be wrong. Each of these is a context — a frame with its own rules, stakes, and expected behavior. You're operating in all four at once, but you can only respond well in one. The meeting gets a distracted version of you. The school message gets anxiety instead of action. The review gets postponed again. The architecture doubt loops without resolution. Four contexts loaded, zero contexts served well. The fix is not to care less about three of them. The fix is to identify which one is primary right now, give it full attention, and explicitly park the others in a trusted system.

Try this: Right now, list every context you are currently holding — not tasks, but contexts. Roles you are occupying (employee, parent, friend, decision-maker). Concerns running in the background (financial, relational, professional). Frames you are interpreting the world through (deadline pressure, creative exploration, conflict resolution). Write each one on a separate line. Now circle the one that is actually primary for the next 60 minutes. For every other context on the list, write one sentence that parks it: 'I will address [context] at [specific time] in [specific place].' Notice what happens to your attention when the non-primary contexts have a named destination.