# De-distractifying my workplace

I'm the sort of person that likes to have a clean email inbox - I hate having things left unread. Unfortunately, this can mean I am constantly distracted by the need to read every Slack message and email as they come in, which is rather unsustainable in a work context! 

I found that making these simple changes made me more productive:

## **Turning off the "new email" notification symbol in the desktop task bar**. 

At my work, we use Outlook on Windows OS. By default, Outlook changes its symbol to include an orange envelope when you have a new unread message. Seeing this symbol would give me the irresistible urge to read the new email, so I have found I am better off in bliss ignorance. Now, I only know if I have new emails when I open Outlook specifically (which is still frequent enough that I don't miss anything important).

## **Not getting pop-up notifications for *every* Slack channel**. 

I have changed my Slack settings so that I only get pop-ups for direct messages, direct mentions, or all messages in a couple of important channels. This reduces my feeling of "have I missed anything important" because I get to find out about these automatically, and don't have to go looking. I also changed the pop-ups to only have the name of who posted the message, rather than a preview of the message. This is good for privacy (e.g. when sharing your screen), but also to minimise distraction. 

## **Muting Slack channels with a lot of traffic**. 

Using the mute feature is essential for busy channels that are only sporadically useful. We have a #cat channel posts a new cat picture every couple of hours, and I was clicking on it far too often because every time I opened Slack, the channel name was in its alluring bold white font again! I've now muted this channel, so I only click on it when I actively want to view cute and fluffy animals (...still quite a lot). 

## **Using [Toggl](https://toggl.com/) for desktop**. 

Toggle is an app that tracks how much time you're spending on each task. You have to input what task you're doing manually, and I found that the idea of having to log my "distracted time" put me off being distracted, so I got on with my work. It also has a competitive element for me - like I can have a competition with myself to see how much work I can do today compared to how I did yesterday. For some people this could probably lead to unhealthily long work patterns, but for someone who has the opposite problem (in that I am far too easily persuaded to not do work), I find the competitive aspect helpful. 


#### What techniques do you have for enhancing productivity at work?


*Originally written and published on my workplace's intranet in March 2020.*
*Photos: CC BY 3.0 US Mapbox Uncharted ERG*