Limiting Your Push-Notifications To Improve Focus | Which Notifications Should Stay On?

It's YOUR attention - Take Back Control

Why is a finance blog writing about push-notifications? Well to put it simple, the more organized your life is and the more focus you have the easier it will be to get to where you want to go! Using push-notifications, not to draw you into your phone to aimlessly crawl over social media, but rather to force you to process what's actually most important for that moment in time.

If you are always distracted by the latest Facebook or Instagram post, you are most likely not thinking about how to improve your finances or life in general.

On the other hand, I believe that you don't need to turn off every push-notification as there are a few that still maintain the importance to "pushed" to the front of your attention.

"One way to boost our will power and focus is to manage our distractions instead of letting them manage us." -Daniel Goleman

What Push-Notifications Should You Use?

Keep in mind everyone has different opinions of what is important to them in life. For the sake of this article, I'm assuming that you're goal is to increase your productivity and make your processes more efficient.

Also, because there are plethora of applications for almost everything, I will simply use categories of applications that I believe are good for push-notifications (rather than the specific apps themselves).

Keep Push-Notifications On For:

• Professional Emails - The blackberry was originally the first to utilize push-notifications for emails. This was rejoiced in the community because it would show you when there was an important email, and not require you to constantly get into your phone to check emails. Create a separate email only for the professionals in your life to contact you (doctors, lawyers, financial advisers, CPAs etc...). Doing this will ensure the notifications from this email will truly be productive ones and not distractions.

• Workout Application - Personally, my MapMyRun dings at me once a day. When building a good schedule, working out should be an integral part. The push-notifications for workout applications are built to motivate you to move and workout. I believe this is a good use of my attention span (even if it distracts me in the current moment). It reminds me that I have my workout planned in my schedule, it is imperative to my health, and I'm ready to workout when that time arrives.

• Meditation/Relaxation App - Life is hectic! It is important to breathe throughout your day and just be grateful for the small things in life. Use whatever application works best for you to remind you to take a break when necessary. By maintaining a clarity in your thoughts you will be much more productive and able to cope with anything life throws your way! Personally, I've found Headspace is an excellent teacher of meditation techniques.

• Applications of Personal Interest - The last category is going to be left very vague. This is because it is really up to you! I would recommend choosing ONLY one. If you choose more then one, then we are just getting back into the same issue of an overwhelming about of unnecessary distractions flying at you. Ask yourself, what are you most interested in right now in your life? Is it art? Music? Snowboarding? Knitting? Dogs? Cats? Ligers? Whatever your passion is find a good application that will remind you to love it everyday, and ideally have it bring you the most relatable content around that topic.

Stay Focused

The goal of limiting your push-notifications is to maintain focus on what's important in your life. Don't let companies dictate how your attention will be controlled, and don't waste anymore time being distracted!

It's a simple process to turn off push-notifications, but must be done one-by-one so it can take a little bit of time. Regardless of how long it takes you, you will be very happy you did it! Best of luck with your new found focus!

Thank you for your time

Also See: How to Manage Your Money Like The Wealthy for Individuals and Households | Millionaire Mindset