Focus and work

Attention is not willpower. It is mostly what is within arm's reach and what you decided before you sat down.

Start here

Focus and work
Phone in another room
When you need to think, the phone goes where you'd have to stand up to reach it.
no timeEvidence: decent

The phone

The phone
Grayscale the screen
Set your phone to black and white. Android and iPhone both have it under accessibility. Add it to the quick toggles.
2 minEvidence: decent
The phone
Log out every time
The app you scroll most: log out when you're done. Opening it then costs a password instead of a tap.
no timeEvidence: worth trying
The phone
Phone in another room
When you need to think, the phone goes where you'd have to stand up to reach it.
no timeEvidence: decent
The phone
Say what you're looking for
Before you unlock the phone, say it, out loud or in your head. "Checking the train time." If you can't name it, put it down.
no timeEvidence: worth trying
The phone
Three checks, not three hundred
Notifications off for everything except calls and one person. Check messages and feeds at three set times a day.
5 minEvidence: decent

Getting started
Decide tomorrow tonight
Before you close the laptop, write tomorrow's three tasks in the order you'll do them.
5 minEvidence: decent
Getting started
Get it out of your head
Everything you're trying to remember goes on one list, today.
10 minEvidence: decent
Getting started
Set up the room for the task
Match the place to the work. Same spot for deep work, a different one for calls and mail.
5 minEvidence: decent
Getting started
Stuck? Do something dull
When a problem won't move, leave it and do a boring physical job for twenty minutes. Dishes, a walk, the garage.
20 minEvidence: decent
Getting started
The two-minute start
For the thing you keep putting off, commit to two minutes. Open the file, write the first line, put on the shoes.
2 minEvidence: worth trying

Making it stick
Give a new habit ten weeks
Starting something new? Don't judge it before ten weeks. Missing a day doesn't reset the clock.
no timeEvidence: decent
Making it stick
Leave work at work
A fixed end to the working day, with one closing action you do every time.
5 minEvidence: decent
Making it stick
Picture it, then picture the obstacle
Imagine the goal done, for a minute. Then name the one thing most likely to stop you. Then: "If that happens, I will…"
3 minEvidence: decent