How I set up my 📱 to train focus

Yes… I get distracted by my phone. Below I show the approach I am experimenting with to avoid distraction and gain back focus. If you are new to the topic I highly recommend reading How to Unhijack Your Mind from Your Phone and We can make you put your phone down. They informed many of the techniques I’ve tried and helped me work out additional tweaks to get to my current setup. If you are already bought in and looking for additional tips hopefully my approach below can provide more options to try.

For as long as I can remember my computer desktop has been very minimal. I keep only my most needed apps readily accessible and my main view is a simple beautiful image.

Current view from my desktop

With this layout, I trained myself to unlock my computer with a purpose in mind (be it writing, prototyping, editing video, etc…)

And recently I realized my phone was organized very differently…

Organized Distraction

Sure everything is organized into folders, the layout is clean and there are a limited number of apps on the screen. However, the main focus is icons.

Unlocking my phone I sometimes found myself looking for something to open instead of knowing what I needed to open just because my attention was grabbed by other options. In those quick, sometimes unconscious searches for a distraction the layout was re-enforcing distraction.

So I decided to try changing my phone to match how I interact with my computer and create a layout that would encourage the same purposefulness.

Here we go…

Wallpaper City

As I mentioned above, there were times when I would reach for my phone without an intent in mind. So I started building a layout that would create gates to make me consider what I was looking to do.

Gate #1 in this layout is the wallpaper.

Let’s compare old vs new side by side…

old vs new

Since the wallpaper takes up most of the screen it’s the first thing I see when I unlock my phone. It gives me a moment to ask “what am I looking to do right now?” without being distracted by other icons.

If my answer is “nothing” then I simply turn off the screen and gain back a moment to focus on something more valuable.

And if I decide to move on it leads me to…

The 3 icon dock

In the old layout, I had apps that fit more into the wants category (e.g. “I want to open Feedly or Safari and browse for a little while.”).

While those can be beneficial and enjoyable at certain times, they can also be a distraction if I don’t have a real intent to use them.

So for the dock, I set 4 principles:

1. Have a max of 3 icons in the dock to create a center focal point
2. The icon in the center will be an app dedicated to training focus
3. The icon to the left will be an app that I use to talk with someone… because hey its a phone after all 😄
4. The icon to the right can be an app needed in one click or a one-page folder of apps I will likely use once per day.

Starting with #1 — max of 3 icons

When I had 4 icons I noticed it was easy for my eyes to dart back and forth and choose any option. I didn’t have to think of an intent.

With 3 it creates a focus on the middle app and that app becomes the first thing I see after looking down past the wallpaper.

This leads to #2 — An app to train focus

I have an app dedicated to focus right in the center of the dock. If I am looking for something to do but don’t have a specific intent it becomes the replacement action for something else that would have been distracting.

The action for this app is pure and simple — Turn off the phone off and focus

On to #3 — An app to talk with

Again since this is a phone I wanted one-click access to an app I can use to talk with friends and family. For now, I have the phone app in this position (as I tend to call more than text) but it can easily be changed out to messages if that changes in the future.

Then #4 — A folder with a noticeable title

I am having fun with this

Lastly I have a folder of apps I will likely use at least once per day. They are apps that help me accomplish a task (email, Evernote, Spotify) learn (Brilliant, Pocket Casts) or inspire me to try something new (YouTube)

I do have apps in this folder that could run counter to focusing (see: YouTube, Feedly, Safari). However, in the process of changing a pattern it helps me more to be presented with the option so I can make an intentional choice from there. It helps re-enforce the change.

This is why the folder is currently titled “You sure?”.

Those are the first words I read when I open the folder and it gives me a moment to ask… “What do you want to watch on YouTube?, What are you looking to learn about from Feedly?”, “Are these most valuable at this moment?”

There is still more experimentation to do with this one (like replacing the folder with a single app, trying different titles for the folder, etc…).

So far I find myself pausing to smile each time I read “You sure?” and that pause is awesome.

Look left, search right

left: weather and events / right: apps to find through search

When I swipe left from the home screen I removed all widgets except weather and upcoming events. The aim for this is to display info that is more helpful to see with a quick swipe instead of opening up an app.

Swiping right from the home screen I have apps I may need from time to time (banking, shopping, settings, etc…). This way when I need to do something intentional (like a bank transaction) I can open that app without having to download and set it up.

Key here is… only open these apps through search

The reasoning behind this is covered very well in an article I referenced in the intro (see: How to Unhijack Your Mind from Your Phone under the heading “Use your iPhone’s Consciousness Filter”) so I highly suggest reading that if you haven’t yet.

While it might seem odd at first, I guarantee it will reduce much of your unconscious use, because it’s just enough time to ask “do I really want to do this?” — Tristan Harris from How to Unhijack Your Mind from Your Phone

An additional change I have made over the last few weeks is to make sure only one app is visible on the first page of each folder (you can see what this looks like in the image above). I found myself swiping to the second screen and browsing at first. Making it take additional steps to see what apps were available helped reinforce the action of only opening these apps through search.

Simply put, these apps make sense for me to keep on my phone so they remain out of sight until I know I need them, when I make an intentional point to search for them.

What about notifications?

I have been in the “turn off all notifications” camp for the last few years so I didn’t have much to change here.

It’s quicker to list out what notifications I have turned on:

• Text Messages
• Phone Calls
• Calendar Reminders
• Home Alerts (Doorbell & Alarm)

Everything else… off

If you still receive a large number of notifications and are interested in the benefits of trimming them these are great reads to start with:

• Turn off your Push Notifications (by David Pierce / Wired)

You’ll discover that you don’t miss the stream of cards filling your lockscreen, because they never existed for your benefit — David Pierce

• Scientists made people turn off their notifications for a day, and saw an effect years later (by Olivia Goldhill / Quartz)

Just one day of shutting down your notifications can be a fulfilling experience, simply thanks to the comparative lack of distraction and stress that comes from answering to a device in your pocket every few minutes — Olivia Goldhill

Training in progress…

I have been running on this layout for a little over 2 weeks.

In that time I finished the books I had been meaning to read, stopped watching movies I wasn’t enjoying (instead of letting them run in the background while I used my phone), let my mind wander like a kid again and began looking up like we used to before looking down became our new normal.

I feel refreshed, continuing to experiment and I am also excited to hear about your setup/tweaks.

References & Further Reading

• How to Unhijack Your Mind from Your Phone (by Tristan Harris / Thriveglobal)
• We can make you put your phone down (by Katie Bloom / The Outline)
• 5 Ways to Organize Your Phone to Unhijack Your Mind (Thriveglobal)
• Why My iPhone Is Better as a Dumbphone (by Jake Knapp / Gizmodo)
• Make Your Phone Unusable (by Casey Johnston / Motherboard)
• Turn off your push notifications. All of them (by David Pierce / Wired)
• Scientists made people turn off their notifications for a day, and saw an effect years later (by Olivia Goldhill / Quartz)