The Best Productivity Tip Ever | Cinnamon Wolfe Photography | NJ Wedding Photographer

This is a tip that I have heard from a few different sources in the past few years or so and I'm not 100% sure why I haven't done it before. Maybe I have not really ever felt it quite that necessary, but now that I am in charge of my own business and have to keep myself on point and focused throughout the day without an overarching "job" schedule to guide me, I have found that I do need to have strategies in place to keep me energized, focused and distraction-free throughout the day.

The tip: TURN OFF NOTIFICATIONS ON YOUR PHONE

Seems so simple and for the longest time, I really did think it wasn't affecting me or causing me to be distracted. However, about two weeks ago I turned off all notifications on my phone with the exception of calls and texts and I am REALLY enjoying the difference!!

All throughout the day before my phone would light up and notifications from FB, email and Instagram would blink onto the screen begging me for attention. I am kind of OCD when it comes to the notification reminders on my phone and I HATE when the little red circles show up inviting me to see what is going on. I HAVE to get rid of them. Paul can keep 1000+ unread emails in his inbox, but there is NO WAY I could do that. I have to clean it up.

So in my previous life (two weeks ago) when I would check my phone for the time or simply see the screen activate, I would see the notifications and quickly scroll through them. That would inevitably lead me to open up an app and look at that. Then I might click on an article or make a comment on someones IG or FB. Then 20 min later I get back to whatever I was doing.

PRODUCTIVITY NIGHTMARE.

NOW I have all of the notifications turned off. Nothing blinks on my screen. No little annoying red dots show on my apps (except for that dumb system update that I am putting off) and I only go and check my email or FB or IG when I have a few minutes to spare in between doing more important tasks for my business or school. (YES, I said school! More on that later. tehehe...don't you hate that???)

I really didn't think I would like this, but I am actually really loving it. I had to turn notifications back on briefly so I could get these screen grabs and I instantly noticed how I fell back into that same pattern. I was very happy to turn them off again.

I am all about will power and making smart choices, but if you do recognize something that is hard for you to resist, and there is something you can do about it to help make it easier to resist....then DO IT!! I have been feeling so much more productive these past few weeks and don't feel as tied to my phone which I am positive will be beneficial not only to my business but to everyone else around me!

If you haven't considered doing this before, I challenge you to try it and see how your day to day activities change for the better!!