Phones are a constant source of distractions in our life. For the scope of this post, I would define distraction as anything that gets in the way of achieving your goals. When you hear of 'goals' don't get 'triggered' thinking about new year resolutions or office OKRs or career/personal goals, I mean goal in a very simple way of maybe completing a blog today, or reading a chapter of a book - tasks that require your focus. The reason I am talking about tasks that require your focus is because those are the tasks that have impact in your career (if you are in the 'skilled labor' market) and your life (spending time with family & friends).
Here are three things that helped me get over phone distractions
1.Setting the phone modes right - I have to modes in my phone. Work mode, which does not allow calls through from callers that are not in my phone contacts list. This has saved me at least 3 spam calls and I have not missed any important calls in the last 6 months. Second mode I have on my phone is DND mode, which only allows calls from my starred contacts, which consists of handful of people (immediate family mostly). I have setup automation on my iPhone that keeps my phone on WORK mode between 7AM - 9PM and then switches to DND mode between 9PM - 7AM. Obviously this might not work for everyone as you might get calls, all the time, from your vendors and new customers.
2. Zero notifications - I have zero notifications on my mobile for the apps. No badges, no sounds, no lockscreen notifications. If I want to see if anyone has whatsapped me, I have to open the whatsapp app. If I have to see if a cab has been assigned to me, I have to stare at the uber app for 3-5 minutes. But, in my case, I believe it is a small price to pay. I only have notifications on for two apps - 1. MyGate notifications, but that too reduced, once I started pre-approving delivery, 2. Office calendar, so that I don't miss meetings.
3. Have a reason to unlock your mobile - This is a super hard one. Whenever I faced a challenging task and sat in my chair to start at the task, my brain would start coming up with excuses to escape the deep work. Phone was easiest, just grab it and check various social media apps and once you go there, there is no coming back for at least 15-30 mins. What I did in this case was to make sure I had a purpose to unlock the phone. Example: If I had to add an item to bigbasket or purchase something on amazon or call someone, I would open the phone and go to that app only. Because I have zero badges or nudges (point 2) for the other apps, I was not dragged into other apps. I could stay on the track to finish that one thing that I opened the phone for and then keep the phone away. Of course, when I'm on the elevator or waiting for someone I do enjoy some mindless social media scrolling for some time. So don't be too harsh.
The best thing to happen to me was to quit mindless social media consumption because once I quit I could just feel like a lot of brain bandwidth had become available for me to do some impactful work.
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Hope you can find yout extra brain bandwidth in 2023. Happy new year 🎉