Simple Ways to Optimize your Phone for Productivity

Our phones distract us every day, and often we resort to physically distancing ourselves from it. But for those times when we need our phones to be productive or using it during spare minutes of day, how do we make sure our phones are a tool and not a distraction?

Productive Time Wasting

The Basics

(Note: I apologize ahead of time for my somewhat excessive use of the term “productive time wasters”)

An important organization tactic is to fill your home screen, or default screen with what I call productivity apps, along with what I like to call productive time wasters. A productive time waster are apps that help me make the-best use of any spare in-between time during my day. Examples are times such as waiting in line, sitting in a waiting room, or passing the time until your friend arrives. Without these, trivial pursuits such as scrolling through social media or news feeds often occupy spare time throughout the day .

Apps that I use for this role are…..

• The Kindle app — This may be one of the most important apps I have downloaded on my phone because of how much time I have diverted from non-productive apps into reading.
• Todo list/Calendar apps — In-between times can be a great-time to check on the to-do list or calendar to check if you have anything coming soon. It also is a suitable opportunity to clear your brain of any mental to-do list tasks and write them down instead.
• Notes/Second Brain — Often the time we spend doing “nothing” is often when we come up with our best creative ideas. There are many apps that can help you conveniently store those ideas for future reference. For this, basically just any notes or writing app that is quick and easy to open the app and create a fresh note.
• Flashcards/learning apps — App such as Quizlet, Anki, and Duolingo, are effective ways to make use of a spare 5 minutes, whether it be to learn a language, study for an exam, or develop a new skill.
• Brain trainers/sharpeners (Optional)- These include apps such as “mental math master”, “rhythm trainer”. I’m not sure if they actually make your brain any quicker or sharper, but it can’t hurt.

Follow through

An important note about “productive time wasters” is that for them to be effective, there are three main actions that have to happen, as without these steps, all the “productive time waster” apps will stay mostly unused in the corners of your phone.

1. You need to optimize your phone to make these apps easier to access than “non-productive time wasters”. The simple way is just to these apps front and center. (Keep reading for ways to optimize the rest of your apps).
2. At least some of these apps have to be engaging. It’s much harder for your brain to embrace learning (which required some brain power) over social media or reading the news. So choose apps that will make it easier, apps such as Duolingo are fun and easy to use, and allow you to compete against friends. With reading apps such as the Kindle app, two major categories work the best work the best for me personally. Non-fiction books that align with one of your passions, or a captivating fiction book.
3. Make a habit and take advantage of muscle memory — Your thumbs no doubt made a habit of clicking certain apps seconds after opening your phone. Change or adapt these habits to include these productive time wasters by forcing yourself to use all of your “productive time waster” apps at least once every day.
4. Start small. There is no point in downloading 15 “productive time waster” apps hoping that just by having them on your phone will change anything. As mentioned in the previous step, making it a habit is one of the most important steps. Because of that, starting with one or two apps, and making sure that you are consistently using those apps during your in-between times, will make it easier to form those habits.

Help you be guilt free

To expand on the concept of productive time wasting in another context, when you get distracted by your phone, spending 30 minutes using a “productive time waster” apps will bring you less guilt than wasting 30 minutes reading through your social media and news feeds. Although you are still wasting time being distracted, it’s still a relatively productive waste of time.

Intentionality

• Use your phone’s search function to open an App- On most phones, to do this swipe down on your screen. Although you might have to spend a couple more milliseconds to open an app, this simple change forces you to become more intentional when using your phone. Instead of mindlessly clicking on an app and consuming recent news stories, social media, etc… The action of typing in the app’s name forces you to consider your reasons for using that app.
• Organize Alphabetically — Some people find that it’s helpful for them to organize their app in folders alphabetically, making it less likely to make a habit of opening a “social media” or “games” folder. This method is like the searching suggestions I just mentioned, as it forces you to really think about what which app you need, making sure you are using your brain instead of your muscle memory.

I hope that you will incorporate some of these strategies with your phone, and please comment about what strategies you already use and find helpful, or any feedback on how one of my strategies was helpful.

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Originally published at http://runtostudy.wordpress.com on May 29, 2020.