Running an online business from a home office is a setup for mega distractions.
One simple idea I implemented cut my distractions by 90% and doubled or tripled my focus.
In today’s Build Your Business Challenge, Actionable Advice in 60 Seconds or Less, I’m going to share with you the simple thing you can do to cut your distractions and increase your focus. You can’t not do this!
Watch and let me know what you think.
Are you accepting this week’s action challenge?
First, tweet about it!
Then, declare it in the comments below and go take action!
If you have insights, experiences, or stories about this week’s challenge, please share them in the comments as well.
Hey Jenny. Awesome advice. I did exactly that about a year ago, but even with all notifications turned off on my phone, I found I was still picking it up to check it! Doh!
So now? The phone is in a different room to me.It takes far more effort to get up and walk to it, than to pick it up if it’s next to me.
The other thing I’ve done is installed an extension in Chrome called ‘Momentum’. Whenever I open a new tab, it asks ‘what’s your focus for today?’ and I write it in at the start of the day. Then, whenever I open a new tab to check social media/email, it reminds me of the focus I have. Makes me think twice about wasting time online !
– Razwana
Nice job! Love the idea of putting your phone where you aren’t. It is such a crazy habit we all have (me included!).
I haven’t heard of Momentum but it definitely sounds like I should check it out. Thank you so much for sharing!
Thank your Razwana, for sharing that chrome app. I am going to use that to help me stay focused. One of my biggest issues with staying focused i open way to many tabs and get side tracked so easily on other subjects. I use chrome extension ‘Single tasking tabs’ to limit the number of tabs I can view at one time.
I love this idea, Jenny. One thing that gets me is that I often need to access emails to get work done, so even with the notifications off, I still see when new mail comes in.
I used to use Outlook, and there was a setting where it would only check for new email when I asked. Do you know if there is anything comparable in Gmail? I haven’t been able to find it. It might be that I was using POP with Outlook and now I’m using IMAP with Gmail. Thanks!
There is software called mailplane that is a non-browser interface for gmail. I don’t know if you can tell it not to refresh your inbox for a set duration. It’s worth checking out though. A workaround could be to create a folder in gmail that is “working messages,” and move the emails you need to access to accomplish your task to that folder. Stay in that folder and ignore your inbox. It will stil take a little self control not to click to your inbox when you see a number there, but at least the subject lines and sender info won’t be staring you in the face.
Thanks, Jenny!
I’ll check it out. And I think if I thought it through a little bit more, I could pull out all the info I need before I start working and then close Gmail for the duration. I’m just realizing more and more how important uninterrupted work time is, and most of my interruptions are totally within my control.
Peggy
Great realization!!
What gets me is how any group I am a part of has a FB group page and when I go in to participate I get lost. Would love to find a way to get around going into FB for groups. Great advice. Thank you!
Hi Jean!
I have that problem, too. One thing I do is add the groups I want to see the most to my Favorites. Then they appear at the top of the left column so I can focus on those and just go into those groups. It’s not foolproof, but it helps.
To add a group to your Favorites, go to the Groups section in the left column, click on More, and then choose “Add to Favorites” for the groups you want at the top of your list.
And I have no idea how this works on mobile.
Thank you Peggy.. Going there now!
You must be in some mega active groups!! What I coach my clients to do is to have very specific intentions for group participation. Sometimes we think we need to keep up with every discussion and get a little FOMO (fear of missing out). Instead, think about your goal in participating in a given group. Ask yourself if you really need to get every message and how often you really need to check the group. I usually have my clients set aside 15 min twice per day to check out their targeted Facebook groups to participate with the goal of being of service. This does the trick of getting themselves known without having to track every conversation in the group. Would this work for you and minimize inbox overwhelm?
One more tip from my book: I have all Facebook notifications go to a separate folder automatically (skipping my inbox), so I can engage on my own schedule. This has been super helpful for me.
such easy great advice- it always comes down to JUST DOING IT!
So true!! You can do it 🙂
Hi Jenny!
I already do this trick, and it does work well.
The ONLY thing I have not figured how to turn off/stop is, on my computer, the little FB ‘slide/pop-up’ that appears on the upper right hand side of my computer screen (when I do not have the FB tab open in my browser) that lets me know that someone has commented on one of my posts or has mentioned me, etc… I have not figured out where we can turn that off? Anyone else knows? Do you all know what I’m talking about?
I don’t want to log-out of FB, because I do need to go on there for my biz several times a day, and I need to stay logged in, but I close the tab down and that silly (silent) slider thingy appears on my screen and it is a distraction !! Darn FB!!! LOL Help!
Are you talking about the Mac notifications? If so, go to system preferences > notifications. There is a way to turn off the Mac notifications there. The only ones I have on are software updates. Though if you mean something else, maybe someone here knows. Once I turn stuff like this off, I can quickly forget that they existed 🙂
If you are on a Mac and the FB notifications are coming through the Notification Center (like Jenny explained), you can also set it to “Do Not Disturb” if you only want them off for a certain period of time (same idea as on the iPhone).
OMG, you both just taught me something new about my Mac LOL Thank you both ever so much 🙂 Yep, that was the problem… I had no idea about the Notifications area in the System Preference. For some reason, I never looked at that…. Never mind that I’ve been using a Mac for years (oh boy).
I’m so happy!!! Your post just helped me fix this on my system!!! THANK YOU!!!
You ROCK Jenny! (and Peggy!) xoxo
You are very welcome, Nathalie!
I have to say, I get really excited when I can find a way to make something work better, too. It just makes my day. 🙂
So happy we were able to help!!
I’ve discovered Unroll.me which has revolutionized my inbox. (and no, I have no links to them whatsoever, apart from being a pitifully grateful customer.!). They make it simple to unsubscribe from unwanted emails, and then ‘roll up’ all the rest into a single daily mail. Now the only emails I receive during the day are from real people who I need to respond to, and all the other responses can be batched’ and dealt with when I have time.
The other thing idea that I am currently toying with is using an email auto responder to let people know the times that I check my email, so that I don’t get duplicates. People that I work closely with have other means to get my attention if it is urgent (i.e. text message, Skype IM or Google Hangout), and everyone else knows that I am not simply ignoring them!
Unroll is great. Thanks for sharing that. I use an autoresponder, too, and it definitely helps people know when to expect to hear from me. Some people don’t like it but many email me back to say they’re going to do the same thing! We teach people how to treat us, and I think setting boundaries around email is a great one. Thanks for joining us here!
My solution for getting distracted by the MANY newsletters I subscribe to is to have a separate gmail account for them all to fall into. I only use that address for subscribing to newsletters and then I only look in that inbox from my iphone when I’m having a bit of down time. (I love reading newsletters so much that I sadly consider it a fun thing to do in my down time – ha ha!)
I accept! I think this will help me for sure…not only in my business but in my personal life as well. Putting the focus all on my kids and then all on the business once they’re in bed. Great idea!
Excellent!!!!
Thank you for the tip re: newsletters…I sign up all the time and actually enjoy reading them and then click on links and sign up for more….having a seperate gmail account to peruse in down time is what I am doing once I stop typing 🙂
Yes, I accept! This is a huge problem for me and although I know the logical solution, I dont keep at it consistently enough. I will for the next week! Thanks Jenny!
Absolutely Jenny! Those notifications chimes drive me nuts. I was told my one co worker back in the day that I was cold for turning off my phone but that’s the only way for me to focus. For me, it creates a nervous anticipation to leave it all on. Much more effective for me to simply look at my phone, leaving it off and see if there are any urgent texts or calls I need to attend to.