How to stop constantly checking your phone
Leadership Tip of week#105
adapted from HBR
It can be hard to focus with all that beeping and buzzing from your phone. I know, it can really create distractions and reduce effectiveness.
Fortunately, there are simple ways to reduce distractions.
- Start by turning off push notifications.
- If that doesn’t help, use airplane mode to limit interruptions when you’re trying to focus.
- If the idea of being out of touch gives you anxiety, you can always make exceptions for specific numbers, such as those of loved ones or important business colleagues.
- Try to check email, instant messages, social media, and text messages in batches, rather than sporadically throughout the day. “Just quickly checking” anything, even for one-tenth of a second, can add up to major productivity losses — it can take an average of 23 minutes to get back in the zone after task switching.
- It’s OK to not respond immediately to a message. Aside from the benefit of giving you more uninterrupted focus time, delaying can lead to better decision-making by giving you more time to think about your response.
This tip is adapted from “10 Quick Tips for Avoiding Distractions at Work,” by Steve Glaveski
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