Getting some bloody work done, and ignoring the lure of the phone.

The challenge of our times...

I’m gonna put my cards on the table. None of this is going to be original, or particularly innovative, and it probably won’t be life-changing.

But this is what’s working - for me - right now. And I wanted to share it. Talking of getting work done, the lovely

Lauren Powell

spoke to me about making life and career choices on her newsletter this morning:

💻 Career Compass #9

First off, the right kind of noise. Sometimes that’s being in a busy coffee shop, but most of the time it’s music. If my Spotify Wrapped at the end of this year isn’t dominated by piano or lofi covers of Taylor Swift and Hozier I’ll be extremely surprised - I find playing them through my noise cancelling headphones* (*ad - Amazon affiliate link) to be the most reliable way to tell my brain that it’s time to lock in and get some stuff done. Using Bluetooth headphones, or a speaker* if I’m at home, is key here. The value of the Bluetooth connection it means the music isn’t coming out of the device that can distract me when I’m working at home. I can leave my phone on the other side of my room, or drop it into my bag, and just have the music coming from a little gadget on my table (or directly into my ears).

But what about what stuff it is I’m trying to get done? Let me introduce you to Trello. It’s an extremely simple task-management/ to-do list app, which I have on my Mac, my iPad, and my phone, so I can edit and check my lists anywhere. Here’s a screen cap of what my Trello ‘board’ for my Master’s programme looks like right now, at the time of writing:

I use a fairly simple ‘Kanban’ structure and try to restrict the number of things I’m ‘currently doing’ at any one time, to reduce overwhelm. The goal is to move ‘cards’ from left to right as I complete them. As you can see, it’s easy to add date tags, and when everything on a checklist for a ‘card’ is done, it goes green, which is really satisfying. I know lots of people use Trello in their day jobs as well - there’s also a (somewhat clunky) version of it built into Microsoft Teams/ Tasks if you work in the Microsoft Office ecosystem and can’t use Trello.

And what about staying focused? I’m a huge fan of the ‘pomodoro’ method and its variations - the principle is that you set yourself ‘focus blocks of time’ and then you can have a break after them. There are a few different methods I use to do this, depending on what the work is I’m trying to do, whether I keep picking up my phone when I’m not meant to, and where I’m working.

• The most basic tool is to Google ‘countdown timer’ and you’ll get one right in the browser. You can move it around and pop it in a corner of the screen so it’s always in your line of sight - and it turns red when the timer is done. I especially like to use this when I’m working on my big computer monitor and I’ve got loads of screen real estate to play with.

  

• Bear Focus Timer app. Super simple - you set the timer and then turn your phone face down to start it going. I usually put the phone behind my laptop screen so it’s out of my line of sight (again, reducing distraction potential). When the timer’s up, you get an audible notification and your music stops. I prefer this when I have other commitments coming up and I don’t want to stay focusing for too long (although, what a good problem to have!). I used to use the Forest app, but you have to keep your screen visible, which made my Screen Time stats even worse. Also, the Bear gives you really cute motivational messages and the drawings are delightful.

  

• The Time Timer*! This is a recommendation from

  Becca Freeman
  of Bad On Paper and you get a visual time countdown. I especially use this when I’m working on paper - taking tech completely out of the equation - and also for housework. Plus it’s cute.

  

Lastly, and most importantly - and this might seem counter-intuitive - I have learnt that ‘hours in a day’ and ‘brain focusing capacity’ are two separate things. It’s impossible to focus hard on difficult brain work for more than three or four hours a day (ask Oliver Burkeman if you don’t believe me!) and after that, most of the time, it’s a game with diminishing returns. So I log off at a reasonable time, close my laptop (unless it’s to play The Sims 4!) and go for a walk or run, read a book, play a board game, or build some Lego, before going to sleep at a reasonable time to do it all again the next day.

Speak soon,

Lily

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