Distraction Hacks
Practical Ways to Get in the Zone, Achieve Zen, and Reach Lifelong happiness…
Getting in the zone can be tough. Case in point: you are likely distracted and reading this article. But hey, you’re here! So you might as well stick around!
We’re all busy so I’ll keep this short.
This is an abbreviated list of a handful of tips and tricks I use in today’s uber-connected world to stay in the zone. None of these are revolutionary and none of these will take you more than 5 minutes to implement.
Are you ready to Achieve Zen?
#1: Turn on Do Not Disturb
Your phone already buzzes, your mac/pc does not need to. This is a fun trick, set your Do Not Disturb from 8:00AM to 7:00AM (<< see what I did there?) so that you have 23 hours of a notification free mac. You can change these settings in System Preferences > Notifications
#2: Turn OFF mobile notifications, you don’t need them for most apps
Everyone has been telling you to do this, SO JUST DO IT. You can update your iOS settings in Settings > Notifications > Scroll Down. Turn off everything, then re-enable only the most important apps.
#3: Mute Your Slack Channels
Love it or hate it, Slack (or your IM of choice) can be a nuisance at times. Guess what? You can and should mute every channel on slack. Even letting channels show up as bolded will draw your eye to them and always distract you. You’ll end up only checking the channels that you care about and if you miss something you’re only a DM away!
#4: Batch Your Emails
I use a tool called BatchedInbox to help with this. Here’s how it works — I hook it up to my gmail and I decide when I would like to receive my emails. Emails are then caught in a gmail filter the site helps me set up and then dumped into BatchedInbox so that they are returned to my inbox at the appropriate time! Easy, but very effective.
One small piece of advice, do not under any circumstances check your BatchedInbox. Otherwise your habit will erode and you’ll start checking that inbox for emails instead of waiting!
#5: Filter Your Emails
Filtering saves me from a veritable ton of emails and if you aren’t familiar with Gmail’s filtering tools you should read this article. Some of the things that I have filters for: calendar event confirmations, automated emails from services like Github, Pivotal, etc, people that email me too much but I don’t want to report as spam, bulk emails to a lot of people that aren’t usually super important and can be dealt with later.
p.s. for an added benefit and help with email prioritization consider using filters to apply labels such as “You are CC’ed”
#6: UNSUBSCRIBE!
Do you get a lot of email newsletters from companies you kind of care about (but don’t really remember why you signed up). If so, you should look in to Unroll.me, a free service that bundles up all of your subscription emails and sends them in a daily digest. It is so easy to setup and will save you HOURS in the future. You’re welcome
#7: Be smart, pay attention to your time and habits
Monitoring your time is extremely important. Some people journal, but I’ve started using (and loving) a tool called RescueTime. It sits in the background of my computer and monitors where I spend my time and what apps and websites I’m using.
They’ve also got nifty features like alerts so that I can get text messages when I’m spending too much (or too little) time in one particular area or application. Check them out at RescueTime.
So here’s to achieving zen and getting in the zone! If you’ve got other tips, respond in the comments below and please share this with others — you never know you could be saving countless lost hours in the process!
p.s. I know this is a fairly Mac, iPhone, Gmail, and Slack focused review, sorry if you use a different platform or tool but the same principles should apply!
