Now that I have had a few days of my own time in between assignments, I realize that notifications are frequent distractions that kill focus.

I suppose I have exacerbated the problem by using all Apple devices. Every message I get hit with notifications on my iMac, MacBook, iPhone, iPad, etc. 

Starting with messages, I turned off the sound/vibration notifications. I left the badge notification on so that I can glance at the icon periodically and see whether I have any new messages. This has really helped cut down on interruptions. 

Speaking of the badge icon, I tackled my email app next. I have a habit of keeping most messages in my Inbox, and I will glance at emails without opening them so they remain as unread. This gave me a badge counter over 3,000. This number has long lost relevance to me because I cannot keep track of how many new messages I have relative to what is already sitting there as unread. To fix this problem, I selected all messages in all inboxes and marked them all as read. Now I have a clean slate and will know exactly how many new email messages I have. I also need to be disciplined about moving emails to the correct folder, deleting them, or at minimum marking them as read.

I have made similar updates for other apps that tend to push a lot of notifications. These simple changes have reduced needless interruptions and helped me stay focused on the task at hand.

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It’s been over a year now, and I have kept notifications to a minimum. I still have badge icons, but the only activity that actively notifies me is a phone call. Does that mean that I don’t respond to text messages right away? Yes, and anyone who contacts me will have to be fine with that. I also moved pesky apps like Facebook and Twitter off my home page so that it takes effort to go find them. 

My new hybrid Fossil watch had notifications turned on by default. As soon as I felt the first one, I opened the app and made sure to turn all that off. The only notification I want from the watch is to remind me to get up and move if I have been sitting too long.

For email, old habits die hard. In my personal inbox, the current unread counter shows 8,468. As I have written before, I am not following the Inbox Zero approach. I don’t miss any emails, and I can search and find anything that I need. 

I put my phone in airplane mode frequently, especially at night before going to sleep (more about this in my upcoming book). This has helped break the habit of reaching for the phone mindlessly just to scroll something.