Turn on Do Not Disturb Mode Throughout the Day to Be More Productive
When I’m working on a project, it usually takes me a few minutes to get into the “zone” where I really focus on what I’m doing. When someone interrupts me, it takes me a few more minutes to actually start working again.
It doesn’t really matter when interrupts are few and far between. If they come in every few minutes, it means that tasks that should have taken only an hour could end up taking an entire day.
Fast Company posted an article this week with a few tips for increasing productivity. One of them was something I couldn’t believe that I hadn’t thought of before: turn on Do Not Disturb. I definitely use this feature at night on my phone, but it never crossed my mind to turn off notifications on my computer when I try to really focus on something.
The idea is that things like chat and Facebook notifications take you away from what you’re working on. I definitely love those moments when I’m not trying to focus, so I don’t want to eliminate them entirely, but I want to be able to temporarily stop them on your desktop (or on your phone, that’s what brings you down), and all of them may one day. be pretty helpful.
You probably know how to activate Do Not Disturb mode on your phone. It’s in the Control Center on your iPhone (it’s the moon icon) and can be accessed by swiping down from the top of the screen on most Android devices.
On your Mac, click the Apple icon in the upper-left corner of the page, then select System Preferences, then Notifications. From there, you will be taken to a page where you can enable Do Not Disturb mode for the desired period of time.
On a PC, you can activate this feature by right-clicking the Action Center icon in the notification area of your computer’s taskbar and selecting “Enable Quiet Hours”.
If you do turn it on, be sure to either set an end time when you do, or make a reminder for yourself to turn off this feature when you finish your project so you don’t miss out on important notifications later.