![]() ![]() These are simple things, but again, it’s the simple things that make a difference. Then, as you work, it would remind you at intervals which task you are working on, in case the phone or another person distracted you. For example, if you were working on a newsletter, you could have Concentrate automatically quit everything but your favorite layout application, block any emails from coming in, open up your Newsletters folder on your computer, along with mounting a network folder you might store newsletter resources on. That by itself is pretty nifty, but it’s also able, for the tech-savvy amongst us (or for those of us who can hire tech savvy people to help!), to also fire off AppleScripts, which means you can automate a whole host of other task-related things. These include, but are not limited to: blocking certain websites, quitting certain applications, automatically opening others you need for the task, or opening documents you might need. Concentrate works in a similar manner to many other task applications by letting you define your goal and a time for it, and, when you are ready to tackle the task, it brings a number of impressive tools to bear. Taking this all a step further is Concentrate from Rocket. As an added bonus, Vitamin R integrates with a number of applications, including the most useful one of all time, OmniFocus. There is an excellent slideshow here that gives a quick demonstration of how Vitamin R works. Part of the genius here is that rather than fight our desire to be distracted, it works with it, and turns that tendency into a positive trait. The rewards builds a positive relationship to focus and accomplishing specific things, providing encouragement to do it again. Thus, focus on one task intensely for 10 – 15 minutes, and then reward yourself with a similar chunk of time to do anything you want. Their argument is that our short term memory can only hold 4 – 6 chunks of information, and that when we get interrupted, we lose that. ![]() It has the simplest of premises – take your larger tasks and break them down into very short, manageable slices with distinct objectives. Here are some tools you might not be familiar with:Īt the top of the list is Vitamin R by Public Space – it’s a perfect example that simple things done very well are often the surest path to getting them done at all. Rather than gnashing your teeth and spending another 20 minutes reading up on the benefits of Neo-Luddism, turn all that great power towards defeating the time-sink beast. Like any good tool, if you decide to make it do something, they will do it quickly and well – get my work done? Sure! Find ways for me to get loads of dopamine by obsessively checking social websites, email, and various other time sinks? Absolutely! With great power comes great responsibility and all that, and if you aren’t too careful, you’ll find yourself where I have been, far too many times – wondering how you got derailed from the middle of your project about 20 minutes ago. It’s ironic that computers, whose very purpose for existence is to increase your efficiency, are so very incredibly efficient at making you waste time. ![]()
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