Removing Distractions

Recently I’ve been more aware of how distracted I get at work, but also at home. I’ll go to my phone to look something up, and if Instagram happens to be open I may get sucked into checking my feed, and a few minutes later I’ll have completely forgotten why I even went to my phone in the first place.

About a week ago I turned off almost all of the notifications on my phone, and I can’t believe how much time and stress it’s already saved me! I’m the kind of person that always wants inbox zero and no new notifications, but I’m finally starting to realize that what I thought was helping me stay on top of things has actually been slowing me down.

I had been opening the Facebook app once, or sometimes multiple times a day, not because I actually wanted to check it, but because I wanted to get rid of the notification. I would literally open the app, press the notifications tab, and immediately close the app once the red circle disappeared.

I also noticed myself going into Slack and reading every message (or at least scrolling until it was marked as read), multiple times a day. Not because I needed the information, but because I was craving that feeling of no new notifications.

I’m realizing though, that trying to stay caught up with things that don’t matter has been giving me a false sense of being productive.

I’m trying to teach myself that not every notification actually needs my attention, and I need to prioritize my time and decide what actually matters. Reading every post or notification throughout the day is a huge waste of time!

Now that I’ve turned off most of my phone notifications, I don’t need to open apps just to clear the red circles, and I’m honestly so much happier.  I’ve also been starting to turn off slack notifications, as well as unsubscribe from unnecessary channels.

Letting go of the need to feel “caught up” all the time isn’t easy, but I can already see how much of a difference it makes!