Yoga teaches us the ability to concentrate and focus in an increasingly distracted world. The ability to have deep and uninterrupted contemplative thought is becoming a skill set that is increasingly in need.
I have touched on in previous articles, methods of strengthening the minds ability to focus and find clarity. These are ancient practices that have been taught for centuries. But the 21st century is rapidly becoming a separate environment to everything that came before. Ancient yogis are unlikely to have catered their teachings for people inundated with full-time jobs, part-time studies, social media, notifications, email, hobbies, social commitments etc.
It’s easy to become overwhelmed in today’s modern world, even with a strong yoga practice. As the world is becoming more online, I believe it is important to set up digital systems to best manage oneself.
These are the systems and tools I use to best optimise my productivity and efficiency. They have helped me change my relationship to technology from one of a slave, to that of a master.
The core system I use to maintain a streamlined and focused digital life is the following:
- Calendar
- To Do List
- Reference
- Habit Tracker
- Read Later App
- SRS Software
- Distraction Blocker
An out of control inbox is at best a source of constant anxiety, at worst a cause of missed opportunities. The goal is to maintain the elusive inbox zero.
The first step to take when reclaiming your email peace of mind is to turn off all notifications. Checking your inbox on your own terms at your selected times. Only a couple of decades ago we were all unreachable for extended periods of time, only recently have we all become ‘on-call’ 24 hours a day.
Secondly, unsubscribing from all promotional material. We are constantly barraged by marketing through most of our waking day, from radio, television, billboards, web ads, etc. You can do without it in your inbox. You can do this by going through all old emails, or as I prefer to do, progressively as each new one comes in.
Once your inbox has been cleared out, a system can be put in place to action each new email received. The idea being that each email will be processed immediately and go to one of six destinations.
- Reply
- Archive
- Calendar
- To Do
- Reference
- Read Later
My email client of choice is Gmail. It provides me with enough flexibility and ease of use. I use a chrome extension called Simplify Gmail which removes a lot of the distractions on the app. If you too use Gmail, I recommend going into your settings and switching on keyboard shortcuts. If you receive a lot of emails this can help you move through processing a lot quicker:
compose: c
reply: r
reply-all: a
forward: f
archive: e
send: cmd-enter”
star: s
delete: #
unread: shift u
Calendar
The calendar acts as my daily/weekly planner. It lets me know of where I need to be when, important birthdays and events, tasks or errands I need to do.
Google Calendar has been my choice in this area since its free, offers me functionality with other programs, and many people already use it. This allows you to easily create and share calendars between people, having partner, colleagues or family know your schedule.
One modification I made is to change the automatic size of a new event to 15 minutes instead of 1 hour. I seem to find more time in the day when I default tasks down to the shorter interval.
To-Do List
The classic to-do list. Probably as old as written language itself. I’ve trialled many different types, and while I romanticise the pen and journal. Practicality sees me using digital versions.
Getting my to-do list out of my head and onto my phone free’s my mind from looping the same thought repeatedly, “buy toothpaste”, “send invoice” etc.
There are countless apps on mobile and desktop, for me though I have found the free version of Todoist to be perfect for my needs. It’s compatible with all systems and has a neat feature that allows me to link it directly with my google calendar. So when I type in “buy toothpaste tomorrow 5pm” it automatically syncs to my calendar. It does this through natural language processing to save me time.
Reference
A reference app allows you to store all your stray thoughts, notes and ideas. For me, it acts as a backup brain. A place I can store all the information I find interesting or necessary that I would likely forget. I can catalogue all my notes there and easily search for them at any time.
For me, I’ve found Evernote to be the best fit. It works well across all systems and has added functionality with Gmail and chrome. The paid service also provides the ability to search through scanned documents, unlimited devices, and mobile offline content.
Organising your notes can be tricky if they are stacked in notebooks across multiple or conflicting categories. For this reason, I try to stick to using the PARA system
The core idea is that all your notes will fall into one of four categories. Projects, Areas of Responsibility, Resources, Archives.
A project is a goal with a definitive end date and outcome. This could be all notes related to building a business plan, filming a promotional video, designing a course etc.
An area of responsibility is something that does not have a definitive end date, but a standard to be maintained over time. Examples include your health, your car, or a hobby.
Resources is a section that you can go to for reference in particular areas of interest. This may include recipes, book notes, exercises etc.
Archives for all old notes that are no longer active in the previous three categories.
Habit Tracker
A habit tracker is a way that motivates me to continue with my habits before they start showing results. You might practice a language every day for 2 months but still, feel like you’re not much better off than when you started. Learning a language is a skill that requires long term dedication before the results become apparent. Exercise, meditation and learning an instrument are examples of other habits that require long term dedication.
The classic method that comedian Jerry Seinfeld proposed was ‘Don’t break the chain’. Simply mark off on the calendar a big red X on each day you did your habit, and then make sure you don’t break the chain.
For me, I like to have a few habits I work on building at once. I use the android app ‘Loop – Habit Tracker’. Which allows me to create widgets for each habit and have them displayed front and centre on my phone home screen. This way whenever I open my phone I am reminded of the daily habits I’m working on, and can easily mark them off at any time.
Read Later App
Perhaps you’ve just been emailed an article your friend thinks you will like or seen on a popular blog a heading that piques your interest. One option is to read it then and there. Lately, I have found value in batching all interesting articles onto a read later app.
The one I’ve been using is Pocket, which has been intuitive and easy to use. It allows me to quickly capture the article onto my account which then links to my phone. I am then able to read the article offline and together with other articles from the week I saw may be interesting.
SRS Software
This is the easiest hack I have found for remembering knowledge that I would normally struggle with. Sometimes in life, we need to learn information that is dry, uninteresting, or difficult. Whether for an exam, work, or personal hobby.
Spaced Repetition Software or SRS is digital flashcards that automatically remind you to check your knowledge just at the point you would likely be forgetting it.
I use Anki which is a fully customisable community-based SRS option. It allows you to upload photos, audio and more into flashcards, perfect for learning languages, geography, anatomy and more.
Distraction Blocker
My guilty admission, sometimes I need help to overcome my addictions. So often I will sit down to work on something, only to reach a point of difficulty that makes me uncomfortable, and not want to continue. At these times my brain will often default to distraction and pleasure seeking through web browsing, video watching, social media etc.
The problem is that my train of thought has been disrupted and the energy to get the ball rolling again is much higher. Much easier to avoid being distracted in the first place. I use the website and app blocker, Freedom. Again it works across all platforms, and I can schedule exactly what to block and at what times. Allowing me to focus when I need to, knowing I can access more leisure based sites and apps at a later time.
Summary
These are a few of the systems and applications I have found to give me a focused mind, and improved efficiency. As technology and the modern world continue to change so rapidly, it can be difficult to stay on top of our digital life. Let me know which applications you have found useful, and which I’m missing.
Hi, I am Matt. I am a passionate student of health and wellness. The science of yoga is the most effective system I’ve yet found for bringing about physical vitality with mental clarity. By blending a Western approach of anatomy and alignment, with Eastern philosophies and meditative techniques. My mission is to share these modern and ancient teachings to help others find harmony in their life.