1/ Here's a hack to replace that idle time where you often glance at your phone due to boredom & cycle through a bunch of distracting apps: Make a Time vs. Importance matrix.
This idea was inspired by @NeilPasricha via fs.blog/neil-pasricha/
This idea was inspired by @NeilPasricha via fs.blog/neil-pasricha/
2/ Think about your week & bucket all activities into a matrix: Time (A lot of time, Little time) vs. Importance (Very, Not very)
I extended "importance" to add Distracting & Relaxing as well.
This will make you reflect on your priorities in life.
I extended "importance" to add Distracting & Relaxing as well.
This will make you reflect on your priorities in life.
3/ When I get bored & have a little spare time, I now try to prioritize all the things in "Little time" by importance before allowing myself to be distracted.
I noticed that I don't have enough things in the "relaxing" category that would reduce my inclination to be distracted.
I noticed that I don't have enough things in the "relaxing" category that would reduce my inclination to be distracted.
4/ For the "A lot of time, Not very important" activities in your life, the goal is to regulate them. So with email, for example, you'd do it 2 times a day (morning, evening) for an hour vs throughout the day. You should control it vs letting *it* control you.
5/ For activities that are "Important, a lot of time", I'd schedule an actual day or half a day block to give myself the appropriate time & patience (morning is best for me) to achieve them. Scheduling is critical to let people know so they can support your day of focus.
6/ If you find yourself without motivation to tackle "important, little time" tasks, then build a repository of "relaxing, little time" activities instead. It will help you gain new energy & motivation later. This is where I also need to improve the most & generate more ideas.
7/ For the "distracting, a lot of time" category, "change the defaults" in your life:
- Turn off push notifications
- Have your phone on default Do-not-disturb
- Hide the dock on macOS to increase focus
- Greyscale your phone screen color
- Delete the app
- Log out after use
- Turn off push notifications
- Have your phone on default Do-not-disturb
- Hide the dock on macOS to increase focus
- Greyscale your phone screen color
- Delete the app
- Log out after use
8/ Lastly, try to find enjoyable & challenging activities that can create complementary contention. For example, when I can't write new music, it makes me want to write code because it seems easier so I procrastinate. When programming becomes hard, I finally want to write music.
