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Whether you’re working from home, or in a typical office setting, your main aim is to be productive – which can be quite the challenge if you take into account all the usual distractions ruining your focus:
- YouTube videos – you keep telling yourself you’ll only watch one more, but it’s never really just one, is it?
- Social Media feeds – Instagram photos, Facebook posts, Twitter wisdoms, they all may take their toll on your dedicated work time
- Your phone – it rarely rings when you’re free, but it seems to have a tendency to blow up during work hours
- Background noises – chatty colleagues, construction noises coming from the outside, neighbours mowing their lawns at the worst possible time, and similar plights
We can conclude that the list of possible distractions is endless, but, if you want to improve your alertness and focus, you can turn to these 5 trusty apps to help you:
Noisli – the noise generator
This app is the ideal noise generator – once you put your headphones on, just select the sounds you like, and they’ll drown out all background noises and help you focus. The possible choices include the sound of the wind, the waves, running water, train tracks, coffee shop chatter, as well as the ever-popular rain and thunder, among other sounds. The sounds are realistic, and you can choose only one, or a combination of various sounds – the custom mix of failing rain, coupled with the sound of distant thunder and crickets is only one of the effective combos you can try.
Clockify – the time tracker
This free time tracking app lets you track the time you spend on activities – you’ll get data showing how long it takes you to finish your tasks, projects and assignments, which is a great motivator to help keep you accountable. As you watch the seconds count up, you’ll aim to finish your tasks faster and dedicate your full attention to them while the timer is ruining. The app also lets you generate reports on the time you’ve tracked for your activities. So, you’ll also get answers on whether you procrastinate online too much – learning the exact number of minutes you spend on YouTube and Social Media per day may be the push you need to minimize such online activities.
Hocus Focus – the declutter app
Do you ever open a large number of windows in your browser, and then loose track of the windows that actually matter to your work? Well, this app is designed to help you single out your most important windows, by simply closing all the windows you’re not working on. In the settings, you can choose the amount of time after which you want the inactive windows to automatically close. Or, you can choose to have windows close immediately once you stop using them. As a third option, if there are windows you always need for your work, you can indicate that as well, so they won’t disappear.
Freedom – the website and app blocker
Unplugging the Internet manually, in order to help you remain on track with your work, will help you avoid popular news websites, but there is a better alternative. This website and app blocker will ensure you stay away from harmful online distractions during work hours. With it, you can block individual websites, or create your own blocklists, and fill them with websites you procrastinate on the most. Also, the settings of this app allow you to block the entire internet directly from the app, so you won’t ever have to unplug it manually, in a last effort to keep your focus.
Siempo – the remover of phone distractions
Your phone addiction can take away a lot of precious time you should be working, but this app is rather efficient in helping you overcome your need to check your phone every few minutes. Namely, it minimizes your phone alerts – you can select the phone apps that distract you the most, and then set the only time(s) when they’ll be allowed to sound. Also, this app transforms your Android interface into a less distracting environment – your most distracting apps are no longer in the forefront, so you’ll have to spend more time looking for them. And, when it takes too long to find your Facebook and Instagram icons, you’ll likely be discouraged from looking for them in the first place.
Conclusion
Maintaining focus is vital when you want to remain productive with your work, but it’s also hard to achieve at times. But, if you block out distracting noises, declutter your browser, address distracting websites and phone apps, as well as compete against a running timer, you’re bound to maximize your focus. And, once you maximize your focus, no task or assignment will present an undefeatable challenge.
You’ve read 5 Productivity Apps to Help Skyrocket your Focus, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’ve enjoyed this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.