Don't Put Your Phone on the Work Desk

My phone is the most distracting piece of equipment I have. In the pursuit of focus time at work, I started hiding and silencing it. This experiment has dramatically improved my productivity: I’m less distracted, I’m in the zone longer, and I have more motivation.

I lost track of how many times I grabbed my phone to check something, only to find myself lost somewhere on Reddit. Receiving a funny meme during a meeting? Sometimes, it’s worth it, but often, it can wait (and is better savored after the meeting). Getting back to focus mode costs time, energy, and motivation - I don’t want to do it over and over again.

Research behind it

The notion that the phone is not helping me has been in the back of my mind for a while. However, the idea to do something about it solidified in me after reading a recent book ¹. It clearly showed that:

• Just the sight of a phone, even turned off, is distracting. This is most likely because we see it as a window into a very tempting world (maybe there is a new YouTube video waiting for me?).
• The sound of a notification will take your mind off your task. (Interestingly, hearing a sound and not seeing what it is, is even more tempting. Our brains pay more attention to discrete signals.)
• The easier it is to reach our object of desire, the more willpower we exhaust trying to avoid it. By putting something outside of reach (at least far enough that we have to stand up to get it), we make the environment encourage the behavior we want to uphold.

My setup

The first step was to remove the phone from sight and reach. I got myself a small, wooden box. I put it far enough from my desk that it was inconvenient to get it - now I have to stand up and take a few steps. It worked like a charm. And my office has a bit more feng shui.

The remaining part - distracting sound and buzzing of notifications - took braver steps. At first, I wanted to use more technology: add an NFC to my wooden box and make my phone turn “Do Not Disturb” mode when it detects it. Before this over-engineering feat, I had a more unsettling idea: What if I just turned the notifications off for the most used messaging apps, always? As usual, simpler is better, not only in the code.

(In my case, I get most of messages through WhatsApp and Messenger. SMS and phone calls are rare for me. I turned off the former. My partner uses the latter if there is something urgent.)

Personal life improvements

Disabling notifications also profoundly improved my personal life. An unexpected sound no longer interrupted me on my walks, in the gym, or, most importantly, during conversations. I hate seeing a phone when I talk with someone, but even when it is in my pocket, a little buzz can take my mind off the conversation I’m enjoying!

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If you can achieve all of this through willpower alone, great. Once I realized this was a problem, I definitely struggled with it. I can use reclaimed willpower for my other endeavors.