Reading: How To Get More Things Done: Part 2

As I mentioned in an earlier email, my challenge for this year is how to get things done. I told you about the Productivity Planner by Intelligent Change that’s really upped my game in productivity. But I wanted to mention another lesson I learned along the way.

The first thing any productivity expert will tell you is to turn off all of your email notifications. But how will I know what’s going on, you ask? What if someone needs me — right now? As I researched the issue, I learned (and this is a two-second summary) that no, you don’t need ANY notifications interrupting your work. (Ok, so maybe only the most vital ones: from your boss and your kid’s school.) But in truth, the technology industrial complex that is Apple, Twitter, Google, Facebook, Instagram, etc. has been created to make you think you need to be notified of every email, every going on in every app on your phone or computer. It’s what’s called a “push” economy: they make money (billions of dollars, actually) by interrupting your work and your thinking to make you do what they want you to do instead of what you need to do. Many of the top tech people say that the first step toward getting things done is to turn off all but your most vital notifications for a week or two and see what happens. Try it. Do nothing else and let me know what you think on the CoveyClub Facebook or Instagram page.

The truth is, if your aunt just died and left you a million dollars and you miss that notification, they’ll try and contact you again. Or maybe they’ll use the phone. Or if someone is really trying to contact you about the job of your dreams, they’ll call as well.  The real question is: Why are you allowing your attention to be stolen and sold by people who hire brain scientists to get you to do what they want you to do instead of what you need to do?

Just think about that.