Build your distraction free digital environment

If you’re working all day long using computer, it’s not only physical environment that matters, but also this virtual one you have on your computer.

It’s generally good advice to personalize your system in order to fit your requirements, but here I’ll focus on minimizing distractions.

When optimizing digital environment for your home office you should focus on:

1. Reducing number of things drawing attention
2. Reducing temptation for unnecessary context switches
3. Increasing deep working time

Let’s talk about steps we can do to build our distraction free digital environment and accomplish goals listed above.

Toggle Bookmarks Bar in Browser

There are hundreds of interesting websites across the internet. I guess you add to bookmark only the cherry-picked the most interesting among all interesting sites. Sites on your bookmark bar are also usually sites you use the most.

That’s why it’s hard to NOT click them while you’re focusing on something else.

And that’s why you should hide this bookmark in your browser, so as to reduce the temptation and chances of clicking it unless you really need it.

In order to toggle your bookmark you should:

• In Chrome/Safari use shortcut ctrl (cmd)+shift+B.
• In Firefox open the browser, click the three-line menu in the upper right corner, select “Bookmarks,” and then choose “Hide Bookmarks Toolbar.”

This way you still will be able to find easily favorite websites, but having them a bit hidden reduces chances of clicking it.

If you need bookmarks for your work, ensure that are no distractors on the list. Keep it professional only. Remove YouTube, social media and other stuff.

Block Social Media Feed

Social media is currently the biggest distractor and time-consuming machine out there.

Unfortunately, scrolling social media affects both work and leisure time. Those apps are super-optimized to bring your attention and engage you in the way you won’t feel, resulting in spending there hours of your life.

Using social media in your work-time is especially work and that’s why:

• Social media breaks your focus at work
• Dividing attention between work and other stuff result in making more mistakes, being less productive
• Switching contexts and scrolling overwhelms your brain
• Mixing work and social media blurs professional boundaries
• You’re wasting time you should allocate to achieving your goals

The most efficient way to overcome this is to block social media feed.

In the browser you can do this by installing one of the extensions. I’m using News Feed Eradicator, which has also version for Firefox. This small extension is block main feed of social media platform you choose.

With such blockade you can still use this platforms by accessing direct links, using search or by entering specific page, such as Facebook groups etc.

It is blocking only the content on the first page you see, which is the most likely to get you into scrolling. And in place of your regular feed it’s placing quote.

Trust me, when you’ll enable this extension you will be shocked how often during the day you will unconsciously open the website and see this quote.

But how about using social media in your free time?

This extension has a feature of unblocking the feed for certain amount of time, so that you can limit yourself on the usage.

Remove Social Media from Phone

I know, it’s radical. However in order to maintain clear hand during work time I strongly suggest you uninstall social media apps from your mobile or put it away.

I’ve uninstalled it long time ago and it worked like a charm. If I want to check out something, do marketing on social media or just browse new photos, I use my laptop for it. It’s much less addictive.

However, if you really like using social media on the phone, I have another trick for you.

Put Mobile Phone Away or Flip it

No matter if you have your social media apps installed or not, I strongly encourage you to put mobile phone away so you even won’t see it.

When not having those distractors nearby, you’re less likely to be distracted. And your mobile phone is probably the biggest source of distraction.

However, if you’re using phone during your work time and you need it as a tool, just place it back up. This way you won’t see notifications and you may reduce the number of times you check phone.

Inbox zero

Inbox zero became a popular technique because of bestseller book “Getting Things Done” written by David Allen.

It’s a state where your inbox is completely empty most of the time. There are no old emails, no mess.

Each time you check your inbox, you only see the most recent emails you’ve not seen before.

It’s awesome technique to clear your mind, be more effective and avoid burnout.

How I can have inbox zero?

1. Iterate through every mail you have. Remove all not needed, archive all needed mail with proper labels.
2. When you got a new email, spent up to 1 min analyzing it and take action.
3. Delete if not needed, add a note or archive. If you don’t want to do and don’t want to decide at the moment, postpone email for specific time in future to handle it properly.

It’s the best to keep your email closed throughout the day and check it from time to time, so as you won’t be distracted by mails.

Close Not Used Tabs

Nowadays browser is one of the most important and most used part of our digital environment. That’s why it is required to keep it clean and simple.

Having a lot of tabs opened is not only draining you RAM usage, but it overwhelms your brain.

Everytime you look on the browser you see a lot of tabs with colorful favicons, what keeps your brain working harder than you may feel it.

And what’s more, you lose a lot of time looking for the specific tab you need, you open other pages that may draw your attention away.

If you’re no longer using tab, just close it.

Turn Off Non-Essential Notifications

Notifications are very likely to distract you. Coming back to focus or deep work after receiving notification and checking it will be very hard and time consuming.

If it’s possible, turn off non-essential notifications both on laptop and mobile phone. Allow only the most important alerts.

Separate Work and Personal Accounts

Use separate browser profiles or logins for work and personal browsing to avoid switching contexts.

Clear Downloads Directory

If you’re working on computer, I guess you download a lot of files. Your download directory can be a bit messy, am I right?

If so, clear it out. Make it empty.

With download directory full of files, every time you download something new, you may spent your precious time on just browsing through files. It’s also often the case that you have to look for something important in downloads directory and it takes a lot of time.

Clearing this will help. If something is no longer needed - delete it. If you need specific file - place it somewhere else where it will be safe.

And do this every time you download something new.

Inbox Zero and Downloads Zero for the win!

Conclusion

Creating a distraction-free digital environment is essential for maintaining focus and productivity. By implementing these simple yet effective strategies you can significantly reduce digital noise and improve your ability to concentrate on meaningful work.