The Number One Thing I’ve Done for My Mental Health and Productivity

It takes just a few minutes to do

With a razor-sharp focus, brain on turbo-mode, and fingers flying across the keyboard, I rip through the first section of the draft.

Stretching my hands and sinking back into my chair, I spot my phone’s screen aflame with notifications. “Just a second and I’ll get back to the draft”, I think as I reach for it.

An hour in and I’m years deep in my ex’s Instagram posts and highlights. The earlier motivation and focus?

Gone to the dogs.

Notifications Are the Devil Incarnate

Nothing scatters your focus, depletes your drive, and burns your mental energy as much as notifications do.

Just one “Beep” and its accompanying push widget can break you out of even the most trance-like states. In fact, this study found the disruptive effect of a single phone ring to be comparable to that of texting while driving.

That’s just one, but we get hundreds a day. To really put things into perspective,

According to stats, on average, we check our phones a whopping 150 times a day!

And the worst part is that it can take up to 23 minutes to regain the same level of focus and attention. So the result is a fractured focus, crippling anxiety, and a scattered brain all day, every day.

And we rarely stop after just checking a notification. We end up mindlessly sifting through social media or doom scrolling the news. This can make you feel even more anxious and depressed.

Now, can you actively resist these bringers of hell?

You can’t, as a notification could be anything — maybe even a reply from the hot coworker you asked out or a job acceptance email. And as this study found, the uncertainty will constantly tug you until you have to check your phone.

There’s a simple solution to this — turning off (almost) all notifications.

It has been a few months since I’ve done this and let me tell you — my productivity’s never been higher and I’ve never felt mentally healthier.

Except for calls and messages on my phone, the rest of my devices are silent sentinels — I get to work, write, meditate, watch stuff, and chill to music in peace.

And I get to tap into flow more often — a state of peak cognitive functioning and intense focus. This alone can massively boost your productivity, so much so that:

In a 10-year study by McKinsey, top executives reported being five times more productive in flow.

As to checking my phone, it's only like 8–10 times in a day — over fifteen times lesser than the average. So, with no further ado, go to settings → Notifications → Apps that can show notifications → Disable all of them.

Trust me and the science, this will be one of the best things you’ll ever do for your productivity and mental health.

What if You Can’t Do It?

If your work involves responding to alerts like customer complaints, emergencies, and system downtimes, or if you’re a social media celebrity, you might need some notifications turned on.

In those cases, what you can do is — define and use Do Not Disturb time slots. Let your customers, followers, or anyone else concerned know you’ll be offline from “X” o'clock to “Y” o’clock.

Something is better than nothing. Every hour of distraction-free time you get is valuable — engage in deep work like writing, researching, solving problems, brainstorming ideas, etc., or use it for leisurely brain-recharging activities.

In any other case, you’re better off with no notifications. That Instagram DM or email can definitely wait.

Final Words

Now, you might say, can such a small thing revolutionize my mental health and productivity?

It can and will. And in the long term, the effect is miraculous. Let me put things into perspective — you receive hundreds of notifications a day on average. That’s 700+ a week and 3000+ in a month. And in a year?

A whopping 36,500 — that’s how many times they kill your focus in a year.

Add the fact that it can take up to 23 minutes to refocus and you’ve theoretically got a grand total of 18,000+ hours wasted per year. Yes, I know a year is only 8760 hours, but even then, my point remains — you’re wasting all year, every year.

If this doesn’t convince you, I don’t know what will.

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