The multi-desktop thing has been a thing in most Linux desktops since the 90s. Just sayin’.

Hacks that work for me:

• Separate work and home devices. I can only stop thinking about work if I physically boot to another device
• Alarms for all the things. Time blindness is annoying and it means I don’t go into “waiting mode” if I know something will disrupt me at the right time.
• Don’t install social media apps on your phone. I have one for Lemmy, but I use facebook and all the others in a browser. This way they absolutely cannot interrupt me. It’s way better for privacy too.

Separate devices and networks for social, shopping, and projects/work-ish. Social and projects are on a whitelist DNS firewall, making it a pain in the ass to do new stuff or chase rabbit holes. It also disconnects any direct link between purchases and whatever stalkers are collecting for data slavery exploitation and manipulation as pirate privateers with a US criminal charter to steal… _(/soapbox) as a bonus.

Get Youtube Vanced (or ReVanced) on your phone and disable all Youtube shorts.

I turn off almost all notifications, my screen is in black and white mode when it’s time to wind down and while working. I use to not disturb with black and white mode as well. Keeps me from getting distracted while trying to relax or work.

I’m pretty simple. I jot things down in docs and put everything in my calendar. Everything is on the cloud so I can always find it. Wherever, whenever.

I have a regular watch on my wrist. That way I don’t get sucked into my phone from trying to check what time it is.

When I check the time it is likely I have something to do at a specific time. Which means losing several minutes on social media or whatever might be a bad idea.

Also disable all push notifications. I’ve taken so much control over my life back.

I just ran across this article probably scrolling here or mastodon, but I already forgot where

https://www.laurieherault.com/articles/a-thermal-receipt-printer-cured-my-procrastination

This is very much depends on the person but give up on trying to use too many digital productivity tools and get yourself a notebook and keep your own lists.

1. I started noticing I was spending a lot more time managing the tools than working on the tasks they were supposed to manage. Also I can’t always carry the tools with me if they aren’t mobile apps.
2. Keeping a notebook planner is a lot less digital distraction outside of the task management too
3. You can develop your own process and method of task journaling that works perfect for you instead of trying to get the tools to work for you.
4. This method allows me to plan and visualize work for a span of days and digital tools tended to be siloed and hard to keep track of together.
5. I keep different journal books for different aspects of life.
6. I also find it much easier to manage life if I have a place for lists as well as note taking together and if I need to remember something, all I need to do is flip the page. Downside: I’ve become obsessed with collecting gorgeous and beloved journal books and my favorite company is Peter Pauper Press. I also use a pilot varsity fountain pen and I’m a fancy bitch now.

Writing stuff down is the most important part for ny organization and sanity. My thoughts are always scrambled, there’s too many of them and I forget about important stuff constantly. So I write this shit down. Not only todolists, also my ideas, emotions, conclusions, thoughts.

However organizing all that writing was hard as well, especially with a perfrctionist drive and overthinking all the mundane shit like “how many pages should I leave for this”, " where to write this new idea down" and being irritated by some of my writing and strikethroughs.

Now back to the main question - I bought an e-ink device with a stylus. Now I write all the stuff on a tablet. It has almost no other functions other than reading ebooks (and sideloading an app to synchronize my files). There’s nothing to distract me there and I can organize my notes, thoughts, files however I like. When I finish an item, I remove it, it leaves my mind completely. My lists stopped being an incoherent mess and get cleaner with every item I tick off.

It all gives me a feeling of organization and ease of mind where done stuff disappears from my notes. And writing has the benefit of looking at my thoughts and seeing them from another perspective, often proving that lots of stuff is not that hard after all.

Hope it helps.

org mode