In the following quote from Turing Award-winning economist Herbert Simon, the word “distraction” replaces the original word “information”:
The feeling remains the same. If you have a lot of distractions, your attention is necessarily reduced.
This article will show you practical ways to eliminate each of the distractions your computer is responsible for.
Almost all the distractions our computers throw at us are useless or at best irrelevant at the time they arise.
Each distraction serves as a trigger. It's a trigger designed to take you away from what you should be doing and convince you to do something else.
Unless you have a good reason not to, it's much better to eliminate these distractions (triggers) completely.
Balloon notifications appear 5 Distracting Desktop Notifications and How to Turn Them Off [Windows] 5 Distracting Desktop Notifications and How to Turn Them Off [Windows] When you're working on a computer, it takes quite a bit of effort to resist trying to multitask. But even if you get a handle on it, many programs manage to creep in... Read More
To disable these, follow these steps. We've already covered how to block notifications on your Chromebook How to effectively manage notifications on your Chromebook How to effectively manage notifications on your Chromebook Notifications can be extremely useful, making sure you never miss an email, message, or reminder. However, the important things often get drowned out in the sea of advertising and unimportant Pinterest updates. Read more.
Open the Action Center (the icon is on the right side of the task bar). Click All settings, system , then Notifications and Actions . From this window, you'll be able to change notification settings, including notifications you receive from installed apps. Turn off all the ones you don't need.
Inside Action Center , you can also manage Quiet hours , which when enabled, restricts notifications to only those you absolutely need.
Go to System Preferences , then Notifications . Go through each of your installed apps, and manage the notification settings for each one. I highly recommend disabling as many as you can.
Similar to the Quiet Hours feature in Windows, OS X also has a Do Not Disturb mode that you can configure in Notifications .
Our own writer, Matt Hughes, was featured in a motherboard article highlighting its download from a desktop.
But when your desktop is a screen you see so often, it's much better to have a simple system to keep things clean and organized there. However, for most people, archiving each item to the desktop when it arrives is too onerous.
As for me, I routinely dump all the items on my desktop into a folder called "To Sort," and go through them once every two months (most end up being deleted). If you're familiar with Organize 2015:Learn the Martial Art of Taking Things Down [Things to Watch] Organize 2015:Learn the Martial Art of Getting Things Done [Things to Watch] You've never wondered why the achievers and achievers they always seem to keep their cool. head? Read more (GTD), this is my version of the “Collection Box”.
If this isn't for you, try downloading one of these wallpaper organizers. Each of these allows you to drag and drop your desktop items to different areas of the desktop to keep them in their correct place.
If you find that your attention isn't being grabbed by certain websites (hello Facebook, YouTube, Reddit, Twitter) when it shouldn't be, there are tools that can block you from certain websites. Focus! 4 best tools to temporarily block Facebook and Co Focus! 4 Best Tools to Temporarily Block Facebook &Co You're not alone, we've all done it, wasting hours surfing the web instead of getting things done. Need a boost in productivity? Find the best tools to escape from social networks here. Read More
If you're using Chrome, install the StayFocusd extension (screenshot above). For Firefox users, download Leechblock. For Safari, try MindfulBrowsing. And if you're a Windows user and want to block websites (or the entire Internet) across multiple browsers, try ColdTurkey
By using these services, you will be able to ensure that you are not tempted by time-consuming websites until the time is right for you. Once installed, simply identify the websites you want to block and enter the times during which you are not allowed to access them. The rest take care of themselves..
Many people report that they can write to a higher standard if they do so in a clear environment without distractions. This environment includes the software they are writing in.
I find this true in my case, and I choose to write in my favorite word processor, ByWord (Mac $11.99) (read our ByWord review. Byword offers the pleasure of writing on your Mac without a screen. Byword offers the pleasure of writing on your Non-full-screen Mac Grabbing your pen (or more often the keyboard, these days) isn't always a simple task. That's not to say that typing is annoying. No, quite the opposite. Typing is wonderful, impressive, ... Read more). ByWord doesn't show anything other than the words I'm typing. There are no icons. There are no margins. Just the words.
Other options include write! (Windows, OS X - Free), Ommwriter (Windows, OS X, iOS - $5), and CalmlyWriter (Chrome - Free or paid).
Each of the word processors mentioned above can also handle Markdown. What is Markdown? 4 reasons why you should learn it now What is Markdown? 4 reasons why you should learn it Are you tired of HTML and WYSIWYG editors? Then Markdown is the answer for you, no matter who you are. Read More:The simplest, most distraction-free way to add formatting to your text.
Despite procrastination resulting in some very profound events How Procrastination Changed the World How Procrastination Changed the World We often think of procrastination as an unnecessary hindrance to our everyday lives. But if it weren't for the procrastination, the world would be a completely different place. Read More How to stop procrastinating:The only New Year's resolution you need to set. How to Stop Procrastinating:The One New Year's Resolution You Must Establish the Procrastination Habit and Start Taking Action Without. waiting for the right moment. Stopping the procrastination is the only New Year's resolution you need. This is why. Read more . We've already covered blocking distracting websites, but you can install other tools on your computer to help combat procrastination.
Pomodoro Apps Cut Procrastination With These Pomodoro Technique Apps And Software Procrastination With These Pomodoro Technique Apps And Software Procrastination is a disease that invades students and workers in all corners of the world and infects hobbyists and professionals alike. As a writer, I suffer from procrastination on a daily basis. Some people... Read More When the alarm goes off, you can reward yourself with a short (timed) break. Tomighty (screenshot below) is a free option that works on both Windows and Mac.
If this isn't for you, you can use Pester (OS X) or Nag (iOS). You can set these apps to remind you from time to time; “Are you doing what you should be doing? ?”, or “Stop dilating!”. This is so that when you are caught procrastinating, you have something to hold you accountable.
Unfortunately, we haven't been able to find anything similar for Windows. If you know something, let us know in the comments!
Depending on how much time you spend inside your browser each day, browser notifications can be just as distracting as operating system notifications. You need to stop getting those nudges from Facebook, Pinterest, and Product Hunt if you want to fully focus on the task at hand.
To stop push notifications within Google Chrome, click Settings> Advanced settings Content settings , then scroll to Notifications . This is where you can choose to block. all website notifications (this will also prevent Chrome from asking if future sites can send you notifications).
If you still want to allow notifications from some selected websites, click Manage exceptions and select Block on those sites you no longer want to receive notifications from.
To stop push notifications in Safari, open the program, then click Safari> Preferences> Notifications . Here you can select to allow or deny notifications from certain websites. You can also uncheck the option at the bottom of the window, which will prevent more websites from requesting your permission to send notifications.
To stop push notifications in Firefox, open Firefox, then go to Options , then Contain t . In the Notifications area, click Choose . This is where you can remove the sites you have given notification permissions to.
If you want to completely disable push notifications from Firefox, go to about:config then look for dom.webnotifications.enabled , and sets its value to FALSE.
You know when you leave a bunch of tabs open to read later? That's distracting enough. Then when you actually read those sites, the pages themselves are full of distractions, from weird formatting to pop-up ads.
To save yourself from these two distractions, sign up for Pocket or Instapaper. Then download its extension for whatever browser you use.
With the click of a button, you can now save the text to a page and close the tab. When you get to read that content at your convenience, you'll be pleased to see that it's formatted with fewer distractions than the original web page.
Besides just reading apps, Pocket features 9 Ways to get more from Pocket 9 Ways to get more from Pocket Pocket is the ultimate digital bookmarking service out there. Let's find out how to improve your experience with the right apps and web extensions. Get more information and those of Instapaper. Become an Instapaper power user with these 6 features. Become an Instapaper power user. With these 6 cool features. Despite an impressive adoption rate, many of Instapaper's features remain unexplored. Let's take a look at some of them. Get more information for an improved and less obtrusive reading experience than a browser can offer.
If you find yourself watching a YouTube video or a show on Netflix, its feature that automatically plays another video or the next episode can be a huge time waster.
To disable this autoplay feature on Netflix, sign in to your account, then go to My Account , click Playback Settings , then uncheck the auto-play box.
After some backlash from users, YouTube made it very easy to turn off its autoplay feature. When you watch a video again, take a look at the top of the Until next time List on the right side of the page. There's a little toggle button up there titled Auto-play . Switch this to off mode, and no more videos will start playing on their own.
If you're in the middle of a task and need to log in to another service, but forgot your password, the whole process of resetting your account can take you away from the task at hand. To prevent this from happening in the future, there are a couple of options.
First, you can use a service like LastPass (our LastPass list:LastPass Premium:Experience the Best Password Management [Rewards] LastPass Premium:Experience the Best Password Management [Rewards] If you've never heard of LastPass, I'm sorry to say You've been living under a rock. However, you're reading this article, so you've already taken a step in the right direction. LastPass... Read More) or Dashland (our Dashland writes-up password manager, form filler, and online shopping assistant Dashlane:a new password manager, form filler, and online shopping assistant Edges These are solid and useful apps, but their interfaces can be overly complex and drawbacks. Dashlane doesn't just reduce ... Read More). These are two leading password management services that help you generate strong passwords. They then store them securely so you never have to remember them.
Second, you could use the possibly less secure method of having your own password system that you can trust. For example, you can choose a standard password like Passio135 ^. This password is edited according to your own criteria. Namely. add the first letter of the website to the beginning of the password in lowercase, and the second letter of the website to the end of the password in uppercase. In this case, if you were signing in to Netflix, the password would be nPassio135E. This ensures that you can discover each of your passwords, but if someone discovers your system, you could be in trouble.
Every week, tons of little tasks will occasionally steal your attention. Imagine if these could be automated? I'm talking about things like:
If you can think of just a couple of small tasks like these that require some of your attention, you should sign up for IFTTT (which stands for If This, Then That).
Our IFTTT Guide The Ultimate IFTTT Guide:Use The Web's Most Powerful Tool Like A Pro The Ultimate IFTTT Guide:Use The Web's Most Powerful Tool Like A Pro If this is it, aka IFTTT is a free service based on the web to get your apps and devices working together. Not sure how to build your applet? Follow along with this guide. Read More Basically this is a service that can connect different services that you use. It can then automatically perform certain functions that you give it permission to do. It's an incredible time and energy saver if you use it the right way.
Each of these sections covers a general distraction that almost all of us face on a daily basis. By minimizing (and eliminating when possible) you can maximize the attention you can spend on more important tasks.
You may still have certain computing habits which means you will always have some distraction. In these cases, be sure to keep an eye out for those distractions to make sure they don't get out of hand.
Still, by staying on top of most, if not all, of the distractions listed above, you'll definitely be able to gain long stretches of time where you're not bombarded with push notifications, alerts, and messages.
You:what other computer distractions do you suffer from that we don't cover here? And if implemented, which of the tips above will help you the most right now?
