Use Focus Mode to disable distracting apps, not just putting your phone on silent.
The Do Not Disturb Sign vs. The Locked Door
Putting your phone on silent is like closing your office door but still hearing every distracting conversation in the hallway. The temptation to open the door is always there. Focus Mode is different. It’s like putting a deadbolt on the door and telling your assistant to hold all calls except for true emergencies. You don’t just silence notifications; you make the distracting apps themselves disappear from your screen entirely. When the apps aren’t there, the temptation is gone, leaving you in a sealed, productive bubble until you’re ready to re-engage with the world.
Stop using your email inbox as your to-do list. Do use a dedicated task manager like Todoist or Google Tasks instead.
The Mailbox vs. The Workbench
Using your inbox as a to-do list is like trying to build a piece of furniture directly inside your chaotic mailbox. Anyone—your boss, marketers, your mom—can throw new “tasks” on your pile at any moment, burying the important stuff. A dedicated task manager is a clean, organized workbench. You get to decide which pieces of mail (tasks) are important enough to move to your bench. You can then arrange them, prioritize them, and work on them without the constant distraction of new mail being shoved in your face.
Stop checking notifications the second they arrive. Do use Android’s Notification Summary to batch-process them twice a day instead.
The Constantly Knocking Mailman
Checking every notification as it arrives is like having a mailman who knocks on your door every time a single letter arrives. It’s a constant, infuriating interruption that shatters your focus. The Notification Summary is like telling your mailman, “Just bundle everything up and deliver it all at once at noon and 6 PM.” This allows you to receive all your non-urgent mail (notifications) in two neat, predictable batches, which you can process on your own schedule, preserving long stretches of uninterrupted, deep work.
The #1 secret for a productive morning is setting up a “Bedtime Mode” that silences your phone and grayscales your screen, not relying on willpower.
The Self-Dimming Casino
Trying to put your phone away at night using willpower is like trying to leave a casino that’s designed with bright lights and loud noises to keep you awake and engaged. Bedtime Mode is like a smart casino that knows when it’s time for you to leave. At your set time, it automatically dims the lights (silences notifications) and turns all the exciting, colorful slot machines into boring, gray screens (grayscale mode). It removes the temptation entirely, signaling to your brain that the party’s over and it’s time to sleep.
I’m just going to say it: The endless scroll on social media apps is the single greatest enemy to your productivity.
The Bottomless Bowl of Chips
An endless social media feed is a bottomless bowl of potato chips, scientifically engineered to make you eat just one more. There is no natural end point, no “You’ve reached the bottom!” message to signal that it’s time to stop. You just keep reaching for another chip, another post, another video, until you’re suddenly shocked to find you’ve wasted an hour. It’s a deliberate design that hijacks your brain’s reward system, making it one of the most effective productivity-destroying inventions of the modern world.
The reason you’re not getting things done is because you haven’t turned off notification dots for non-essential apps.
The House Full of Blinking Red Lights
Notification dots are like tiny, blinking red lights on the doors of your apps. Our brains are hardwired to see these as urgent, like an unread message that needs immediate attention. But when you have them on every app—games, shopping, news—it’s like living in a house where even the broom closet has a blinking alarm. You feel a constant, low-level anxiety to clear them all. By turning off the dots for all non-essential apps, you’re disabling the false alarms, ensuring that the only blinking lights you see are the ones that truly matter.
If you’re still manually typing notes from a meeting, you’re losing time by not using a voice recorder app with live transcription.
The Court Sketch Artist vs. The High-Speed Camera
Trying to type every important detail in a fast-paced meeting is like being a court sketch artist trying to capture every single word of a trial. You’re guaranteed to miss crucial details while you’re focused on just keeping up. Using a recorder app with live transcription is like setting up a high-speed video camera. You can relax and be fully present in the meeting, knowing that the app is capturing every single word perfectly. Afterward, you have a complete, searchable transcript, not a frantic, incomplete sketch of the conversation.
The biggest lie you’ve been told about productivity is that you need a complex system; a simple checklist is often enough.
The 1000-Piece Tool Chest vs. The Hammer
Elaborate productivity systems with dozens of tags, projects, and filters are like buying a massive, 1000-piece professional mechanic’s tool chest just to hang a single picture on your wall. It’s impressive, but it’s complete overkill, and you’ll spend more time organizing your tools than doing the actual work. A simple checklist is the hammer and nail. It’s an unglamorous but perfectly effective tool that lets you focus on the one thing that matters: getting the job done. Often, the simplest tool is the most productive one.
I wish I knew about using a “Work Profile” to completely separate and disable my work apps during my personal time.
The Office That Disappears at 5 PM
Having work apps on your personal phone is like having your desk, your computer, and your boss follow you home and sit in your living room all evening. You’re never truly off the clock. A “Work Profile” is a magical switch. At the end of your workday, you press one button, and that entire “work” side of your phone—the apps, the notifications, the accounts—is completely shut down and becomes invisible. It’s like your office and your boss vanish into thin air, giving you back your personal time, completely free from work-related intrusions.
99% of users make this one mistake with notifications: not customizing the notification channels within each app.
The Single, Blaring Doorbell
Not customizing your notifications is like having a single, blaring doorbell for every visitor. It rings just as loud for a critical package delivery as it does for a door-to-door salesperson. Inside each app’s settings, you can find “notification channels.” This is like assigning a unique chime to each type of visitor. You can set Instagram comments to be a loud ring, but set “new follower” notifications to be completely silent. This lets you filter the noise at the source, ensuring you only hear the doorbell for the visitors you actually care about.
This one small action of pinning your most important conversation to the top of your messaging app will change your communication workflow forever.
The VIP Express Lane
Your messaging app is a chaotic, reverse-chronological river of conversations. The most important people in your life—your partner, your kids, your boss—can get washed downstream by a flood of less important group chats and random messages. Pinning a conversation is like creating a permanent VIP lane at the very top of that river. No matter what other messages come in, your most critical conversations are always instantly accessible, saving you from having to constantly scroll and search for the people who matter most.
Use Bixby Routines or Tasker to automate repetitive tasks, not doing them manually every day.
The Self-Driving Car for Your Phone
Every day, you manually perform the same repetitive tasks: when you get in the car, you turn on Bluetooth, open your map app, and start your music. This is like manually driving the same exact route every day. Automation apps like Bixby Routines are like a self-driving car for your phone’s settings. You simply teach it once: “When my phone connects to my car’s Bluetooth, perform these three actions.” From then on, it happens instantly and automatically, saving you those little bits of time and mental energy that add up throughout the day.
Stop using a physical calculator. Do use the calculator app that saves your history.
The Chalkboard vs. The Permanent Notebook
Using a physical calculator is like doing a complex math problem on a chalkboard. The moment you hit “clear” or start a new problem, your previous work is erased forever. If you made a mistake, you have to start from scratch. Your phone’s calculator app is like a permanent, scrolling notebook. Every calculation you make is saved in a history log. You can easily scroll back to check your work, reuse a previous result in a new calculation, and find that number you calculated twenty minutes ago without having to do it all over again.
Stop sending files to yourself via email. Do use Nearby Share or Pushbullet to instantly send them between your phone and computer.
The Postal Service vs. The Teleporter
Emailing a file from your phone to your nearby computer is like putting a photo in an envelope, addressing it to yourself, and putting it in a mailbox, only to have the mailman deliver it back to you hours later. It’s a slow and clunky process. A tool like Nearby Share is a teleporter. You select a file, choose your computer, and it appears on your desktop in a matter of seconds. It’s a direct, instantaneous transfer that feels like magic and makes the idea of emailing files to yourself seem ancient.
The #1 hack for focusing is using the “grayscale” mode in Digital Wellbeing to make your phone less appealing.
The Candy Store vs. The Broccoli Aisle
A modern smartphone screen is a candy store for your brain. The bright, vibrant, colorful icons are like little pieces of candy, constantly triggering reward centers in your brain and begging for your attention. Turning on grayscale mode is like instantly transforming that entire candy store into the broccoli aisle. All the fun, exciting colors are gone, replaced by boring shades of gray. The phone is still just as functional, but it’s suddenly far less appealing, making it much easier to put down and get back to work.
I’m just going to say it: “Hustle culture” has tricked you into thinking you need to be available on your phone 24/7. You don’t.
The On-Call Surgeon Fallacy
Hustle culture makes us feel like we all need to be on-call surgeons, ready to respond to a life-or-death emergency at 3 AM. But the reality is, most of our jobs are not like that. That “urgent” email can almost always wait until morning. By keeping our phones on and notifications active 24/7, we are living with the constant, low-level stress of a surgeon, but without the actual need. True productivity comes from focused work during work hours and genuine rest during personal hours, not from being perpetually on-call for non-emergencies.
The reason you can’t find that link is because you didn’t share it to a “read later” app like Pocket.
The Sticky Note for Your Brain
Stumbling upon an interesting article or video when you’re busy is like remembering you need to buy milk while you’re in the middle of a meeting. If you don’t write it down, the thought will vanish. A “read later” app is a digital sticky note for your brain. Instead of leaving the tab open or making a mental note you’ll forget, you use the “share” button to send the link directly to your Pocket. It’s now saved in a clean, organized list, waiting for you to enjoy it when you actually have the time.
If you’re still using multiple calendar apps, you’re creating confusion by not syncing them all to a single Google Calendar.
The Three Assistants Who Don’t Talk to Each Other
Using separate calendars for work, personal life, and family is like having three different personal assistants who never communicate. One assistant schedules a dentist appointment at the same time another one schedules a crucial board meeting. The result is chaos, double-bookings, and constant stress. By syncing all your accounts to one master calendar, like Google Calendar, you’re getting one highly organized chief of staff. They can see everything in one place, ensuring there are no conflicts and giving you a single, reliable source of truth for your entire life.
The biggest lie is that you need to respond to every email immediately.
The Doorbell Delusion
The arrival of a new email is like a doorbell ringing. Our modern work culture has trained us to believe that every ring is a fire alarm that requires us to drop everything and answer the door immediately. But in reality, 99% of doorbells are just a package delivery or a salesperson. It’s not an emergency. By treating every email as urgent, we allow other people’s priorities to dictate our entire day. True productivity lies in closing the door, focusing on your own work, and choosing to answer the accumulated “doorbells” in batches, on your own schedule.
I wish I knew about using Gboard’s clipboard manager to save multiple items I’ve copied.
Carrying One Package vs. Driving a Delivery Truck
The standard clipboard on your phone is like being forced to carry only one package at a time. If you need to move three different pieces of text from one app to another, you have to make three separate, tedious trips back and forth. The clipboard manager, found in your keyboard’s settings, is like being given the keys to a delivery truck. You can copy multiple items—a link, an address, a paragraph of text—and they are all saved in your clipboard’s history. You can then go to your destination and paste them all, one after another.
99% of users never use the “split screen” feature to view two apps at once.
The Tiny Workbench vs. The Full Desk
Using your phone normally is like working on a tiny workbench that only has room for one tool at a time. If you need to reference a note while writing an email, you have to put the email away, pick up the note, and then swap them back again. It’s slow and inefficient. Split-screen mode is like expanding your workbench into a full-sized desk. You can have your notes open on one side and your email open on the other, allowing you to see both at the same time, just like you would on a real computer.
This one small habit of setting a timer for your social media apps will give you back hours of your life forever.
The Friendly Casino Bouncer
Scrolling through a social media feed is like playing a slot machine in a casino with no clocks on the wall. The apps are designed to make you lose track of time, pulling the lever just one more time until you look up and realize hours have vanished. Setting a daily timer in your phone’s Digital Wellbeing settings is like hiring a friendly bouncer. After your allotted time is up, he politely taps you on the shoulder and says, “Alright, that’s enough for today.” The app icon grays out, gently forcing you to leave the casino and re-enter the real world.
Use your phone’s “Digital Wellbeing” dashboard to identify your most time-wasting apps, not just guessing.
The Bank Statement for Your Time
Trying to figure out where all your time went at the end of the day is like trying to figure out where all your money went without looking at your bank statement. You can guess, but you’ll probably be wrong. Your phone’s Digital Wellbeing dashboard is the detailed, itemized bank statement for your time. It shows you, in stark black and white, exactly how many minutes you spent on each app and how many times you picked up your phone. It replaces your vague feelings of wasted time with cold, hard data, revealing your true digital habits.
Stop just reading articles. Do use your browser’s “reading mode” for a simplified, ad-free view.
The Library vs. The Times Square
Reading an article on a typical news website is like trying to read a book in the middle of Times Square. There are flashing banner ads, auto-playing videos, and pop-up windows all screaming for your attention. It’s a chaotic and hostile reading environment. Your browser’s “reading mode” is a magic button that instantly teleports you to a quiet, peaceful library. With one tap, all the ads, sidebars, and distractions vanish, leaving you with just the clean, beautiful text and images, allowing you to focus on the actual content.
Stop relying on your memory. Do use Google Assistant’s location-based reminders instead.
The String on Your Finger vs. The Personal Assistant
Telling yourself “I have to remember to buy milk on the way home” is like tying a piece of string around your finger. You’ll see the string later, but you might not remember what it’s for, or you’ll remember when it’s too late. A location-based reminder is like having a personal assistant who is tracking your every move. The moment your phone detects that you are physically near a grocery store, it will buzz in your pocket and display a message: “Buy milk.” It’s a foolproof system that connects your to-do list to the physical world.
The #1 secret for managing your finances is using an app that automatically categorizes your spending, not manually tracking receipts.
The Automatic Sorting Machine vs. The Pile of Mail
Manually tracking your expenses with receipts and a spreadsheet is like dumping all your mail onto a table and sorting it by hand every night. It’s tedious, time-consuming, and you’ll probably give up after a week. A modern budgeting app that connects to your bank account is like a magical mail-sorting machine. Every time you spend money, it automatically reads the transaction, knows it’s from Starbucks, and files it under “Coffee.” It does all the tedious work for you, giving you a perfect, up-to-the-minute picture of your financial life without the manual labor.
I’m just going to say it: The default layout of your phone is designed for consumption, not creation.
The Vending Machine vs. The Toolbox
The default home screen of a new phone is like a brightly lit hallway full of vending machines. It’s filled with apps for social media, video streaming, and shopping—all designed for you to passively consume content. It is not a workspace. To be productive, you need to redesign your home screen to be a toolbox. This means removing the “vending machine” apps and replacing them with tools for creation and organization: your calendar, your notes app, your to-do list. You have to intentionally build your own productive space.
The reason your meetings are inefficient is because nobody is using a shared notes document like Google Keep.
Five People Building from Different Blueprints
A meeting without a shared notes document is like five construction workers trying to build a house, but each one is looking at a different, private blueprint. Everyone leaves the meeting with a slightly different memory of what was decided, what the action items are, and who is responsible for what. A shared notes app is the master blueprint. Everyone can see it, contribute to it in real-time, and leave the meeting with the exact same set of plans, ensuring that everyone is building the same house.
If you’re still using your phone’s alarm to wake up, you’re missing the benefit of a smart alarm that wakes you during your lightest sleep phase.
The Foghorn vs. The Gentle Sunrise
A traditional alarm clock is a foghorn. It blasts you out of sleep at a fixed time, regardless of whether you’re in a deep, restorative sleep or a light, nearly-awake state. Waking up from deep sleep is what causes that groggy, zombie-like feeling. A smart alarm app uses your phone’s sensors to monitor your sleep patterns. You give it a 30-minute window, and it waits for you to enter a light sleep phase before gently waking you with soft music. It’s like being woken by a gentle sunrise instead of a foghorn, leaving you feeling refreshed and alert.
The biggest lie is that being “busy” is the same as being “productive.”
The Hamster on a Wheel
Being “busy” is like being a hamster furiously running on a wheel. There’s a lot of motion, a lot of effort, and you definitely feel like you’re working hard. But at the end of the day, you’re still in the exact same spot in the cage. Being “productive” is about moving forward. It’s not about how many emails you answer or how many meetings you attend; it’s about how much meaningful progress you make on your most important goals. Our phones make it easy to be a busy hamster; true productivity requires ignoring the wheel.
I wish I knew that I could use my voice to type entire emails and messages, which is much faster than typing.
The Snail vs. The Race Car
Tapping out a long message or email with your thumbs is like a snail trying to cross a highway. It’s a slow, tedious, and error-prone process. Using the voice-to-text feature on your phone’s keyboard is like hopping into a race car. You can speak your thoughts at the natural speed of conversation, which is three to four times faster than you can type with your thumbs. It captures your ideas as fast as you can think them, turning the chore of writing on a phone into a quick and effortless act of dictation.
99% of users keep the notification sound on for their email app, allowing constant interruptions.
The Dripping Faucet in a Quiet Room
Leaving the notification sound on for your email is like trying to do focused work in a perfectly quiet room, but with a constantly dripping faucet in the corner. Each “drip”—each little ding of a new email—is a tiny, unnecessary interruption that breaks your concentration. Even if you don’t check it, the sound itself is enough to pull you out of your flow state. Turning off that sound is like fixing the leak. It restores the silence, allowing you to work without that constant, distracting reminder of the ever-filling inbox.
This one small action of setting up auto-replies for when you’re driving will improve your safety and focus forever.
The Voicemail for Your Car
When you’re driving, your only job is to drive. But the buzz of an incoming text creates an almost irresistible urge to check, which is incredibly dangerous. Setting up an automatic “driving” reply is like activating voicemail for your car. When the phone detects you’re driving, it automatically sends a message back saying, “I’m driving right now and will get back to you when I arrive.” This reassures the sender that you’re not ignoring them and, more importantly, it removes the social pressure for you to reply, allowing you to keep your hands on the wheel and your eyes on the road.
Use Microsoft’s Phone Link to access your phone’s apps and notifications on your Windows PC, not constantly switching devices.
The Universal Remote for Your Digital Life
Constantly picking up your phone to check a notification while you’re working on your computer is a massive productivity killer. Each time, you’re switching your focus, your posture, and your mental context. Microsoft’s Phone Link is like a universal remote that brings your phone directly onto your computer screen. You can see notifications, respond to text messages, and even use your phone’s apps in a window on your PC. It integrates your two most important devices, allowing you to stay in your workflow on one screen instead of constantly juggling two.
Stop using a basic notes app. Do use a connected notes app like Obsidian or Notion to link your ideas together.
The Pile of Index Cards vs. The Spiderweb
A traditional notes app is like a stack of disconnected index cards. Each note is an isolated island of information. A connected notes app is like building a spiderweb of ideas. You can create links between your notes, so your note on “productivity” can directly link to your notes on “Focus Mode” and “Pomodoro Technique.” Over time, this creates a personalized, interconnected wiki of your own knowledge. It allows you to see the relationships between different ideas, helping you think more creatively and deeply about the information you save.
Stop just silencing your phone. Do flip it over to activate “Flip to Shhh” for a temporary Do Not Disturb.
The Snooze Button for Life
Sometimes you just need 15 minutes of quiet, but navigating to your phone’s settings to turn on Do Not Disturb feels like too much work. “Flip to Shhh” is a magical, instant snooze button for the world. When you’re heading into a meeting or sitting down for dinner, you simply place your phone face down on the table. The phone senses this and automatically activates Do Not Disturb mode, silencing all calls and notifications. When you’re ready to re-engage, you just flip it back over. It’s a simple, physical gesture to claim a moment of peace.
The #1 hack for a better workflow is customizing your phone’s “Share” menu to prioritize your most-used apps.
The Messy Toolbox vs. The Organized Toolbelt
Your phone’s “Share” menu is your digital toolbox. But by default, it’s a messy, disorganized drawer where the hammer you always need is buried under a bunch of tools you never use. You waste time every time you have to search for the right app to share to. Most phones allow you to “pin” or edit this menu. This is like creating a custom–organized toolbelt. You can put your most frequently used apps—your notes app, your task manager, your favorite messaging app—right at the top for instant, one-tap access, streamlining your daily workflow.
I’m just going to say it: You check your phone over 100 times a day, and most of those times are completely unnecessary.
The Refrigerator Check
We all do it. You open the refrigerator, look inside, see nothing new, and close it. Two minutes later, you find yourself unconsciously opening it again, hoping that something interesting has magically appeared. We do the exact same thing with our phones. We check them out of boredom, habit, or a subconscious craving for a tiny dopamine hit. Most of the 100+ times we unlock our phones each day, there is nothing new or important to see. It’s a mindless “refrigerator check” for information, a habit that fragments our attention for no real reward.
The reason you procrastinate is because distracting apps are on your homescreen, not hidden in a folder on the second page.
The Cookies on the Counter vs. The Cookies in the Basement
If you leave a plate of fresh-baked cookies on your kitchen counter, you’re going to eat them. Your willpower doesn’t stand a chance. If you want to stop eating cookies, you put them in a sealed container in a cabinet in the basement. The same is true for distracting apps. If your social media and game apps are on your home screen, you will open them unconsciously. By moving them into a folder on the second or third page of your app drawer, you’re putting the cookies in the basement. You can still get to them, but it requires intentional effort.
If you’re still using a physical business card, you’re missing the efficiency of a digital contact card via NFC.
The Rolodex vs. The Instant Download
Handing someone a physical business card is like handing them a piece of paper and asking them to manually type all that information into their computer. It’s an analog process in a digital world, and the card often gets lost or thrown away. A digital business card, shared by simply tapping your phone (or an NFC card) to theirs, is an instant download. Your complete, accurate contact information is transferred directly into their phone’s address book in a single second. It’s more efficient, more reliable, and it never gets lost.
The biggest lie is that you need to be a “power user” to benefit from automation.
The Automatic Coffee Maker
You don’t need to be a professional barista to own an automatic coffee maker. You just have to be someone who likes coffee and doesn’t want to grind the beans and boil the water manually every morning. Automation on your phone is the same. You don’t need to be a programmer to set up a simple rule like, “When it’s 10 PM, turn on Do Not Disturb.” These simple “if this, then that” recipes are accessible to everyone and can save you from the small, repetitive manual tasks that add up throughout your day.
I wish I knew how to use “App Pinning” to lock my phone to a single app when I let my child use it.
The Museum Display Case
Handing your phone to a child is a nerve-wracking experience. You want them to be able to watch their video or play their game, but you’re terrified they’ll start swiping around, deleting your emails, or making accidental purchases. “App Pinning” is like putting your phone inside a secure museum display case. It locks the phone to that one single app. The child can tap anywhere they want inside the game, but they cannot exit the app, pull down the notification shade, or access any other part of your phone until you enter your unique PIN.
99% of users don’t use their calendar’s “event” and “task” features correctly.
The Appointment Book vs. The To-Do List
An “event” in your calendar is a block of time, like a dentist appointment from 2 PM to 3 PM. It’s a specific commitment at a specific time. A “task” is something you need to do, but not necessarily at a specific time, like “buy milk.” Many people clog up their calendar by creating fake “events” for their tasks, which makes their schedule look terrifyingly busy. By using the dedicated “Tasks” feature, your to-dos can live on your calendar and be assigned to a specific day without blocking out your time, giving you a much clearer picture of your actual commitments.
This one small habit of planning your next day the night before on your phone will change your morning productivity forever.
Laying Out Your Clothes for the Gym
The hardest part of going to the gym in the morning is that moment of sleepy indecision when you wake up. If you have to think about what to wear and what to do, you’ll probably just go back to sleep. But if you laid out your gym clothes the night before, the decision is already made. Planning your next day’s top 3 priorities in your phone’s task manager the night before does the same thing for your workday. You wake up with a clear, pre-made plan, allowing you to bypass that morning fog of indecision and get straight to productive work.
Use a password manager to log in to apps and websites, not wasting time typing or resetting forgotten passwords.
The Master Key vs. The Clumsy Locksmith
Not using a password manager is like being a clumsy locksmith who carries a giant, unlabeled ring with hundreds of different keys, and you can never remember which key opens which door. You’re constantly trying the wrong ones, getting locked out, and having to call for help. A password manager is a secure digital vault that remembers all your keys for you. You only need to remember one single master key. It then automatically and securely fills in the correct password for every app and website, saving you from the endless, time-wasting cycle of forgotten passwords.
Stop bookmarking websites you need to act on. Do use the “share to task app” function instead.
The Library vs. The Inbox
Bookmarking a website is like putting a book back on the shelf in a massive library. It’s saved, but there’s no reminder to ever do anything with it. If you find an article you need to read for a work project, and you just bookmark it, it will get lost in a sea of other bookmarks. Instead, use the “share” button to send the link directly to your to-do list app. This is like putting the book directly into your inbox with a due date. It transforms a passive piece of saved information into an active, trackable task.
Stop reading the news first thing in the morning. Do start with a productive task instead.
The Reactive Firefighter vs. The Proactive Architect
Starting your day by reading the news on your phone is like starting your day as a reactive firefighter. You’re immediately bombarded with negativity, outrage, and problems from the outside world, and it puts you in a defensive, anxious state of mind. Starting your day with a small, productive task—like planning your day or working on your most important project for 15 minutes—is like being a proactive architect. You are calmly and deliberately laying the foundation for your own day, based on your own priorities, not reacting to the chaos of the world.
The #1 secret for a focused work session is putting your phone in another room.
The Plate of Cookies
Even if your phone is face down and on silent, having it on your desk is like putting a plate of delicious cookies right next to your keyboard while you’re on a diet. Just knowing it’s there is a constant, low-level distraction. Your brain has to expend a tiny amount of willpower to not pick it up. By moving the phone to another room entirely, you are removing the plate of cookies from your line of sight. Out of sight, truly out of mind. This frees up all that wasted mental energy, allowing you to achieve a deeper level of focus.
I’m just going to say it: The constant group chat notifications are destroying your ability to do deep work.
The Never-Ending Meeting
A busy group chat is a meeting that never, ever ends. It’s a constant stream of chatter, jokes, and random questions that are rarely urgent or important. But because of the social pressure to stay in the loop, we allow this meeting to run in the background of our entire workday. Each notification is like someone tapping you on the shoulder while you’re trying to concentrate. The only way to get real, focused work done is to be rude: you have to mute the chat, close the door on the meeting, and leave for a while.
The reason you feel overwhelmed is because your phone’s homescreen is a cluttered mess of icons and widgets.
The Messy Desk
Trying to be productive with a cluttered home screen is like trying to do important work at a desk that is buried under a mountain of junk mail, old newspapers, and random trinkets. The visual chaos creates a sense of mental chaos, and you can never find the tool you actually need. A clean, minimalist home screen, with only your most essential, productive apps, is like a clean, clear desk. It creates a sense of calm and order, making it effortless to find your tools and focus on the task at hand.
If you’re still using a separate app for your shopping list, you’re not using the shared list feature in Google Keep with your partner.
The Two Separate Shopping Carts
You and your partner having separate shopping list apps is like going to the grocery store together but using two different shopping carts and never speaking to each other. You both end up buying milk, and you both forget to buy bread. A shared list in an app like Google Keep is like having one single, magical shopping cart. When your partner adds an item to the list from home, it instantly appears in your cart while you’re in the store. It’s a simple, synchronized system that ensures nothing is forgotten and nothing is duplicated.
The biggest lie is that technology is making us more productive; it’s often just making us busier.
The Treadmill vs. The Trail
Modern productivity apps can sometimes feel like a high-tech treadmill. We can spend hours tweaking our settings, organizing our tags, and tracking our metrics. We are definitely busy, and we feel like we’re running really fast. But at the end of the day, we’re still in the same spot. True productivity is like hiking on a trail. It might be slower and less flashy, but you are making tangible, forward progress toward a destination. We have to be careful that our tools aren’t just making us busier treadmills, but are actually helping us move down the trail.
I wish I knew about setting up custom text expansion shortcuts in my keyboard settings for frequently typed phrases.
The Secret Code for Your Fingers
There are certain things you type over and over again: your email address, your home address, a specific polite response to a customer. Typing these out every time is a waste of a few seconds that adds up. Text expansion is like creating a secret code for your keyboard. You can teach it that whenever you type “@@,” it should automatically expand that into your full email address. Or that “addr” should instantly become your entire home address. It’s a simple trick that saves you thousands of keystrokes over time.
99% of users treat all notifications with the same level of urgency.
The Fire Alarm and the Toaster
We treat our phone’s notification sound like a fire alarm. The moment it goes off, we assume it’s an emergency that requires our immediate attention. But in reality, most notifications are just the toaster popping up to tell us our toast is ready. It’s information, but it’s not urgent. By reacting to the toaster with the same panic as the fire alarm, we live in a state of constant, manufactured urgency. The key is to learn the difference, and to consciously decide to ignore the toast until we’re ready for it.
This one small action of unsubscribing from junk email newsletters directly from the notification will clean your inbox forever.
Turning Off the Faucet at the Source
Trying to manage a flood of junk email by deleting it every day is like constantly mopping up a bathroom floor while the faucet is still gushing water. It’s a never-ending, futile task. At the bottom of almost every promotional email notification, there is a tiny “Unsubscribe” button. Tapping this button is like walking over and turning off the faucet at the source. Instead of dealing with the symptom (the emails), you are solving the root cause of the problem, permanently stopping that firehose of junk mail from ever reaching you again.
Use Google Lens to scan and digitize documents, not using a bulky office scanner.
The Photocopier in Your Pocket
In the past, if you needed to make a high-quality digital copy of a document, you had to find a big, clunky flatbed scanner. Google Lens puts a powerful scanner directly in your pocket. You’re not just taking a photo of the document; the app is smart enough to find the edges, correct for any perspective distortion, and enhance the text to create a clean, crisp, perfectly flat PDF. It’s like having a portable, intelligent photocopier that can digitize receipts, whiteboard notes, and official documents in an instant.
Stop just using your phone for calls. Do use a headset to free up your hands while you talk.
The One-Armed Man
Trying to do anything—cook, type, walk—while holding your phone pinned between your shoulder and your ear is like deciding to do the task with one arm tied behind your back. It’s awkward, uncomfortable, and incredibly inefficient. Using a simple pair of earbuds or a Bluetooth headset is like untying that arm. It frees up both of your hands to take notes, work on your computer, or do the dishes, all while having a clear, comfortable conversation. It’s a simple change that transforms a phone call from a limiting activity into a productive one.
Stop keeping dozens of tabs open in your mobile browser. Do use a session manager or save them to a “read later” list.
The Desk Buried in Paper
Leaving dozens of tabs open in your phone’s browser is like leaving every book, magazine, and piece of paper you’ve ever looked at open on your desk. It becomes a cluttered, chaotic mess that slows down your browser and makes it impossible to find the one thing you actually need. Closing tabs you’re done with is the first step. For the rest, you can use a “read later” app for articles, or a browser’s “group tabs” feature to file related tabs together. It’s about cleaning your desk and creating an organized filing system.
The #1 hack for learning on the go is listening to podcasts or audiobooks at 1.5x speed.
The Information Superhighway’s Speed Limit
Listening to a podcast or audiobook at its normal 1x speed is like driving on a superhighway that has a ridiculously low speed limit. The human brain is capable of processing spoken information much faster than most people talk. By gradually increasing the playback speed to 1.25x or 1.5x, you are raising that speed limit. You can consume the same amount of valuable information in significantly less time, turning a 30-minute commute into a 20-minute masterclass, without losing comprehension. It’s a simple way to learn more, faster.
I’m just going to say it: A “digital detox” is a temporary fix for a permanent problem of bad habits.
The Crash Diet
A “digital detox”—going completely without your phone for a weekend—is like going on a crash diet. You might lose a few pounds, and it feels like a great reset. But if you go right back to your old eating habits on Monday, you’ll gain all the weight back in a week. The detox doesn’t solve the underlying problem. The more sustainable solution is not to periodically starve yourself, but to build healthier daily eating habits. Similarly, it’s better to build healthy, sustainable digital habits, like turning off notifications and setting timers, than to rely on temporary purges.
The reason you forget things is because you don’t use a widget for your to-do list, keeping it always visible.
The Post-It Note on Your Forehead
A to-do list hidden inside an app is like a list written on a piece of paper that you keep in your pocket. You have to remember to take it out and look at it. A to-do list widget on your home screen is like sticking that Post-it note directly to your forehead (or at least your computer monitor). You can’t miss it. Every single time you unlock your phone, your most important tasks are right there, staring you in the face. This constant, passive reminder is incredibly powerful and makes it almost impossible to forget what you need to do.
If you’re still carrying a wallet full of loyalty cards, you’re missing the efficiency of a digital wallet app.
The Janitor’s Keychain vs. The Keycard
Carrying a thick stack of plastic loyalty cards is like being a janitor with a massive, jangling keychain with 50 different keys on it. It’s bulky, disorganized, and you’re always fumbling to find the right one. A digital wallet app is like a single, sleek keycard. It securely stores all of your loyalty cards in one place. When you’re at the checkout, you simply open the app, and the correct barcode is ready to be scanned. It’s a simple way to declutter your wallet and streamline your checkout experience.
The biggest lie is that you can effectively multitask while watching a video on your phone.
The Juggler with One Too Many Balls
Our brains like to think they can multitask, but in reality, they are just very quickly switching from one task to another. Trying to scroll through social media while watching a YouTube video is like a juggler trying to add one too many balls to their routine. You might be able to keep them all in the air for a moment, but you’re not actually paying proper attention to any of them. You miss the nuances of the video and fail to comprehend the text you’re reading. You’re just doing two things poorly instead of one thing well.
I wish I knew that I could use my phone as a second monitor for my laptop with an app like Duet Display.
The Portable Desk Extension
Working on a single, small laptop screen can feel cramped, like trying to cook a large meal on a single hot plate. You’re constantly having to move things around and switch between windows. An app that turns your phone or tablet into a second monitor is like a magical, portable desk extension. You can keep your research or your communication app open on your phone’s screen while you do your main work on the laptop. It dramatically expands your digital workspace, making you more efficient, especially when you’re away from your main desk setup.
99% of users don’t utilize the quick settings tiles for anything beyond Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.
The Customizable Cockpit Dashboard
The quick settings panel on your phone is like the customizable dashboard of a modern airplane. By default, it just shows your speed and altitude (Wi-Fi and Bluetooth). But a pilot can add buttons for all the tools they use most often. You can do the same. You can add tiles for the calculator, for grayscale mode, for the camera, or for toggling your work profile on and off. By customizing this panel, you can create a personalized cockpit dashboard that gives you instant, one-swipe access to the features you use every single day.
This one small habit of turning your phone to grayscale one hour before bed will improve your sleep quality forever.
The Sunset for Your Brain
For thousands of years, the setting of the sun and the gradual fading of color from the world was a powerful, natural signal to the human brain that it was time to wind down and prepare for sleep. The bright, colorful, stimulating screen of your phone is the opposite; it’s a personal, artificial noon-day sun you hold inches from your face. By turning your screen to grayscale an hour before bed, you are creating an artificial sunset. This removes the stimulating color and helps signal to your brain that the day is ending, allowing for a more natural transition into restful sleep.
Use the “Do Not Disturb” mode’s scheduling feature, not just manually turning it on and off.
The Automatic Nighttime Doorman
Manually turning on Do Not Disturb every night is like having to remember to lock your front door every single evening. You’ll probably forget sometimes. Using the scheduling feature is like hiring an automatic, perfectly reliable nighttime doorman. You simply tell it, “Every night at 10 PM, lock the doors (turn on DND), and every morning at 7 AM, unlock them.” It happens automatically, without you ever having to think about it, guaranteeing you a protected, interruption-free period of rest every single night.
Stop remembering Wi-Fi passwords. Do share them instantly with a QR code from your phone’s Wi-Fi settings.
The Secret Handshake vs. The Instant Key Copy
When a friend comes over and asks for the Wi-Fi password, you have to go through the clumsy ritual of finding the router, reading off a long, complicated string of letters and numbers, and hoping they type it in correctly. It’s like a secret handshake that everyone gets wrong. Instead, go to your phone’s Wi-Fi settings for your current network and tap “Share.” This generates a QR code on your screen. Your friend can just point their camera at it, and it’s like an instant, perfect copy of the key is transferred to their phone. They’re connected in two seconds.
Stop using your phone’s screen for extended reading. Do send long articles to your E-ink reader like a Kindle.
The Blinding Spotlight vs. The Printed Page
Reading a long article on your phone’s backlit screen is like trying to read a book while someone is shining a bright spotlight directly into your eyes. It’s fatiguing, causes eye strain, and is full of distractions. An E-ink reader is like a magical piece of paper. It isn’t lit from behind; it reflects the ambient light in the room, just like a real book. Most browsers have a “send to Kindle” feature that lets you teleport that article from the harsh spotlight of your phone to the calm, comfortable, paper-like surface of your e-reader.
The #1 secret for a productive commute is downloading podcasts and playlists for offline access.
The Buffet in the Tunnel
Streaming music or a podcast during your commute on a train or subway is a recipe for frustration. The moment you go into a tunnel or a dead zone, your stream cuts out, and the buffet of content is closed. Downloading your content for offline access before you leave is like packing a delicious lunchbox. No matter what happens to your internet connection, no matter how many tunnels you go through, your entertainment is stored locally and will play without a single stutter or interruption, guaranteeing a smooth and productive journey.
I’m just going to say it: The feeling of “phantom vibrations” is a sign that you’re too attached to your phone.
The Ghost in Your Pocket
Phantom vibration syndrome—that feeling that your phone just buzzed in your pocket when it didn’t—is a fascinating and slightly terrifying modern phenomenon. It’s like a ghost. Your brain has become so conditioned to anticipate a notification, so wired to expect that little dopamine hit, that it starts to create the sensation out of nothing. It’s a clear, physical sign that our nervous systems have become deeply entangled with our digital devices. It’s not a malfunction of your phone; it’s a malfunction of your brain’s reward system.
The reason you’re always late is because you don’t use your map app’s feature that tells you when to leave for an appointment.
The Personal Chauffeur
If you have an appointment at 3 PM, you might guess that you should leave around 2:30. But you’re not accounting for the unexpected traffic jam or the road closure. You’re just guessing. When you put your appointments in your digital calendar, your map app acts like a personal chauffeur. It is constantly monitoring the live traffic conditions. It will send you a notification that says, “Based on the current traffic, it is now time to leave for your 3 PM appointment.” It removes the guesswork and ensures you arrive on time, every time.
If you’re still writing down phone numbers, you’re wasting time by not using Google Lens to scan them directly into your contacts.
The Scribe vs. The Scanner
Seeing a phone number on a business card or a “for sale” sign and manually typing it into your phone is like being a medieval scribe, carefully copying a book one letter at a time. It’s slow, and you’re likely to make a mistake. Using Google Lens is like using a high-speed scanner. You just open your camera, point it at the number, and your phone instantly recognizes it as a phone number. With one tap, you can call it or add it directly to your contacts, perfectly and instantly.
The biggest lie is that more features in a productivity app will make you more organized.
The Overcomplicated Spaceship Cockpit
Switching to a new productivity app with more features because you feel disorganized is like a messy cook thinking that a more complicated oven will make them a better chef. Often, the problem isn’t the tool; it’s the process. An app with a million features can feel like sitting in a spaceship cockpit with a thousand confusing buttons. It just adds another layer of procrastination as you spend your time fiddling with the settings instead of doing the actual work. A simple, clean notepad is often more effective than the most complex app on the market.
I wish I knew about the “Heads Up” feature in Digital Wellbeing to stop me from walking and using my phone.
The Digital Guide Dog
We’ve all seen them: “smartphone zombies” shuffling down the street, completely engrossed in their screens, oblivious to the world around them. It’s incredibly dangerous. The “Heads Up” feature is like a digital guide dog. When your phone detects that you are walking while looking at the screen, it will periodically flash a simple, friendly reminder on your screen, like “Look ahead” or “Be careful.” It’s a simple but brilliant feature designed to break your trance and pull your attention back to the physical world to prevent you from walking into a pole or stepping into traffic.
99% of users have notifications enabled for apps they haven’t opened in months.
The Ghost Alarms
Leaving notifications on for an app you no longer use is like having alarms set all over a house you don’t live in anymore. These “ghost alarms” go off, sending a pointless buzz to your phone for a game you don’t play or a shopping app you don’t use. It’s digital clutter that adds to your notification anxiety for no reason. Periodically going through your app list and disabling notifications for anything you haven’t used in the last month is a simple act of digital hygiene that silences the ghosts.
This one small action of creating a “distraction-free” homescreen will change how you work forever.
The Zen Garden vs. The Amusement Park
The typical phone home screen is a chaotic amusement park, filled with bright, loud, exciting “rides” like social media and games, all begging for your attention. Creating a distraction-free home screen, with only your essential tools and a calming wallpaper, is like turning that amusement park into a serene Zen garden. When you unlock your phone, you are greeted with calm and order, not chaos. The “rides” are still there if you need them, but they are tucked away, requiring you to intentionally walk to them instead of having them constantly in your face.
Use a universal search app to find contacts, apps, and files, not swiping through pages of icons.
The Librarian vs. The Endless Bookshelf
Swiping through pages and pages of apps to find the one you’re looking for is like walking along an endless bookshelf, scanning thousands of spines. It’s a slow and inefficient process. Your phone’s universal search bar is like a personal librarian. You simply walk up to the desk (the search bar), tell them the name of the book you want (“Spotify”), and they instantly retrieve it for you. It’s a much faster and more intelligent way to navigate your phone, whether you’re looking for an app, a contact, a file, or a specific setting.
Stop letting apps interrupt you. Do turn off all but the most critical notifications.
The Open-Door Office Policy
Allowing every app to send you notifications is like having a strict open-door policy at your office, where any random salesperson, coworker, or delivery person can walk in and interrupt you at any moment. It becomes impossible to get any deep, focused work done. The only way to be productive is to close the door. This means going into your settings and turning off notifications for every single app, and then only turning them back on for the few, critical “people”—like your boss (your work chat) or your family (your messaging app)—who are allowed to interrupt you.
Stop using a physical notepad for meeting minutes. Do use a collaborative document that can be shared instantly.
The Stone Tablet vs. The Live Broadcast
Taking meeting notes on a private paper notepad is like carving the minutes onto a stone tablet. At the end of the meeting, you have the only copy, and to share it, you have to go through the slow process of transcribing and emailing it. Using a collaborative document like Google Docs is like a live television broadcast. Everyone in the meeting can see the notes being typed in real-time on their own screen. The notes are instantly shared, perfectly legible, and exist as a single, central source of truth the moment the meeting ends.
The #1 hack for brainstorming is using a mind-mapping app on your tablet, not just a linear notes app.
The Straight Road vs. The Spiderweb
Brainstorming in a traditional, linear notes app is like being forced to think along a single, straight road. You can only go forward, one idea after another. A mind-mapping app is like building a spiderweb. You start with a central idea in the middle, and then you can branch out in any direction you want, connecting related ideas and exploring different avenues of thought. This non-linear approach more closely mirrors how our brains actually work, allowing for a more creative, free-flowing, and powerful brainstorming session.
I’m just going to say it: The notification shade has become a source of anxiety, not utility.
The Inbox of Demands
The notification shade was supposed to be a helpful summary of what’s new. Instead, it has become an inbox of demands. It’s a list of unread emails you need to answer, news alerts you need to worry about, and social media interactions you feel obligated to check. Each item is a small, cognitive burden, a tiny to-do item that adds to our background level of stress. We’ve been conditioned to see a full notification shade not as a convenience, but as a stressful list of things we have failed to deal with yet.
The reason you feel mentally drained is the constant context-switching your phone encourages.
The Mental Whack-a-Mole
Using your phone is like playing a frantic game of mental Whack-a-Mole. You’re writing an email (mole #1), but then a text message pops up (mole #2). You switch to that, but then you see a social media notification (mole #3). Each time you switch, your brain has to expend a significant amount of energy to load the new “context.” Doing this dozens or hundreds of times a day is incredibly draining. The constant context-switching, not the tasks themselves, is what leaves you feeling exhausted and unfocused at the end of the day.
If you’re still using a standard keyboard, you’re missing the speed of swipe-typing on Gboard or SwiftKey.
The Hopscotch vs. The Ice Skater
Tap-typing on a keyboard is like playing hopscotch. Your finger has to lift up and land on each individual letter. It’s a series of separate, disjointed movements. Swipe-typing is like being an ice skater. Your finger glides gracefully across the keyboard, tracing the shape of the word in one continuous, fluid motion. It’s a much faster, more efficient, and often more comfortable way to type on a touchscreen, allowing you to skate across the keyboard instead of hopping from key to key.
The biggest lie is that you need to be connected 24/7 to be successful.
The Farmer and the Field
A successful farmer knows that a field needs periods of rest. You cannot plant and harvest from the same field 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. It needs time to lie fallow to recover its nutrients. Your brain is the same. The idea that you need to be constantly connected, answering emails and messages at all hours, is like trying to farm your brain without ever letting it rest. True, sustainable success comes from periods of intense, focused work followed by periods of genuine, disconnected rest that allow your brain to recover and grow stronger.
I wish I knew that I could set “rules” on my phone to automatically change settings based on location or Wi-Fi network.
The Smart Home for Your Pocket
A smart home can automatically turn on the lights when you arrive and turn down the heat when you leave. Your phone can do the same for its own settings. Using built-in “rules” or “routines,” you can teach your phone to be smart. You can set a rule that says, “When I connect to my work Wi-Fi, automatically put my phone on silent.” Or, “When I arrive at the library, turn off Wi-Fi to save battery.” It’s like having a tiny, intelligent assistant in your pocket that silently manages your phone’s settings for you.
99% of users don’t set custom vibration patterns to know who is calling without looking at their phone.
The Secret Knock
A standard phone vibration is like a generic knock on your door. It could be anyone, and the only way to find out is to get up and look. A custom vibration pattern is a secret knock. In your contacts, you can assign a unique buzz pattern—like a rapid “shave-and-a-haircut”—to your most important contacts. Now, when your phone is on silent in your pocket, you can feel the difference between a random spam call and the urgent, secret knock of your partner or your child, without ever having to take your phone out.
This one small habit of putting your phone on the charger outside your bedroom will revolutionize your sleep.
The Cookie Jar in the Kitchen
Having your phone on your nightstand is like keeping a giant jar of cookies right next to your bed. Even if you don’t plan on eating any, the temptation is always there, calling to you. This leads to late-night scrolling that disrupts your sleep. By leaving your phone to charge in the kitchen or the living room, you are moving the cookie jar far away. This removes the temptation entirely and creates a sanctuary in your bedroom that is dedicated to sleep, not to the endless, blue-lit scroll of the internet.
Use the “Pomodoro” technique with a timer app on your phone, not just working until you feel burnt out.
The Sprint Runner vs. The Marathoner
Trying to work for hours on end without a break is like trying to run a marathon at a full sprint. You’ll have a good start, but you’ll quickly burn out and your performance will collapse. The Pomodoro technique is like training as a sprinter. You work in intense, focused 25-minute bursts (the sprint), followed by a mandatory 5-minute rest (the recovery). Using a simple timer app to enforce this rhythm prevents burnout, keeps your mind fresh, and allows you to maintain a high level of performance throughout the entire day.
Stop checking your phone first thing in the morning. Do a 15-minute analog activity instead.
The Architect vs. The Firefighter
When you check your phone the moment you wake up, you are starting your day as a firefighter. You are immediately reacting to the fires—the emails, the news, the notifications—that other people have started. You are letting the outside world set the agenda for your day. By starting with a 15-minute analog activity instead—stretching, meditating, writing in a journal—you are starting your day as an architect. You are calmly and deliberately laying out the blueprint for your own day, based on your own priorities, before the world has a chance to interrupt.
Stop using a bright screen in a dark room. Do use the “Extra dim” feature for night-time reading.
The Headlights in the Bedroom
Using your phone in bed with the brightness turned all the way down is still like someone turning on a car’s headlights in your dark bedroom. It’s a harsh, bright light that strains your eyes and signals to your brain that it’s daytime. The “Extra Dim” feature, found in your phone’s accessibility settings, is like putting a thick, neutral-density filter over those headlights. It allows the screen to get significantly dimmer than the standard minimum brightness, creating a soft, comfortable light that’s perfect for reading without searing your retinas or disrupting your sleep.
The #1 secret for remembering names is to add a small note in the person’s contact card right after you meet them.
The Mental File Folder
When you meet someone new, their name is like a loose piece of paper that your brain has nowhere to file. It gets lost easily. The moment you part ways, take 10 seconds to create a new contact in your phone. In the “notes” section, add a small piece of context, like “Met at Sarah’s party, works in marketing, has a golden retriever.” This creates a mental file folder. The next time you see them, you can quickly refresh your memory, allowing you to greet them with a confident, “Hi John, how’s your golden retriever?”
I’m just going to say it: Most “life hack” apps just add another layer of complexity to your life.
The Professional Organizer for Your Sock Drawer
A “life hack” app that promises to revolutionize your productivity is often like hiring a team of professional consultants to create a complex, color-coded, multi-level filing system for your sock drawer. You will spend more time learning the system, tagging your socks, and maintaining the database than you would have just putting your socks in the drawer. The simplest solution is often the most effective. The quest for the perfect “hack” can become a form of procrastination that is more complicated than the original problem.
The reason you can’t focus at your desk is because your phone is face-up and in your line of sight.
The TV in the Corner of the Room
Trying to do focused work with your phone sitting face-up on your desk is like trying to read a book in a room where a TV is silently playing in the corner. Even if you’re not actively watching it, a part of your brain is constantly monitoring it, waiting for a flash of movement or an interesting scene. Every notification that lights up your phone’s screen does the same thing, pulling a fraction of your attention. By simply placing it face down or, better yet, out of your line of sight, you are turning the TV off.
If you’re still managing your schedule on a paper calendar, you’re missing out on the power of shared, digital calendars.
The Stone Tablet vs. The Live Whiteboard
A paper calendar is a stone tablet. It’s a static, personal record that is difficult to change and impossible to share in real-time. If your partner wants to schedule something, they have to call you to find out if you’re free. A shared digital calendar is a live, collaborative whiteboard. When your partner adds an event, it instantly appears on your calendar, and vice versa. It’s a single, synchronized source of truth for the entire family, making it effortless to coordinate schedules, avoid conflicts, and stay on the same page.
The biggest lie is that a new productivity app will solve your procrastination problem.
The New Set of Pots for the Bad Cook
A person who procrastinates is like a bad cook who keeps burning the food. They see an ad for a new, shiny set of non-stick pans and think, “This will solve my problem!” For a week, they are excited by the new tool, but soon enough, they are burning food in the new pans too. The problem was never the equipment; it was the cook’s habits and techniques. A new app won’t fix the underlying emotional reasons for procrastination. The focus should be on building better habits, not on endlessly searching for a magical tool.
I wish I knew about the “pause app” feature to temporarily disable an app without uninstalling it.
The Time-Out Chair
Sometimes, an app becomes so distracting that you want to get rid of it, but you don’t want to go through the hassle of completely uninstalling and reinstalling it. The “pause app” feature is a digital time-out chair. You can temporarily disable the app, which grays out its icon and stops it from sending you any notifications. It’s effectively “off” without being gone. When you’re ready to use it again, you simply un-pause it. It’s the perfect way to enforce a short-term break from a distracting app during a focused work session.
99% of users let their work email and messaging apps send them notifications after work hours.
The Boss Who Lives in Your Pocket
Leaving your work notifications on after 5 PM is like allowing your boss to follow you home, sit on your couch, and tap you on the shoulder with a new request every 20 minutes throughout your evening. It makes it impossible to ever truly disconnect and rest. By setting up a “Do Not Disturb” schedule for your work apps or using a “Work Profile,” you are politely but firmly escorting your boss out the door at the end of the day. This creates a clear boundary that protects your personal time and prevents burnout.
This one small action of putting a “Do not disturb” widget on your homescreen will make it effortless to get focus time.
The Big Red “Quiet” Button
The need for a burst of focused work can strike at any time, but diving into your phone’s settings to activate Do Not Disturb can feel like a chore. A DND widget is like a big, satisfying “QUIET” button that you can place directly on your home screen. When you need to focus, you don’t have to think; you just tap the button. All interruptions cease. It’s an easy, frictionless way to claim a period of silence, making it much more likely that you’ll actually use the feature when you need it most.
Use speech-to-text to capture ideas while walking or driving, not waiting until you can write them down.
The Butterfly Net for Your Thoughts
Good ideas are like butterflies. They can flutter into your mind at the most inconvenient times, like when you’re driving or walking the dog. If you don’t have a way to capture them immediately, they will fly away and be lost forever. Using your phone’s voice-to-text feature to speak a quick note to yourself is like having a butterfly net that is always ready. It allows you to safely and instantly capture those fleeting thoughts and ideas the moment they appear, ensuring they are saved and waiting for you when you’re back at your desk.