My dad shared an interesting article with me

My dad shared an interesting article with me this morning from The Times newspaper this morning. It was about productivity and focus, suggesting ideas on getting thing done. One idea which stuck out was someone who sets aside five hours a day and puts that number into a countdown timer. When he is working, he starts the timer, when he takes a break, leaves his desk, or does anything else, the timer is paused. He said that, realistically, this five-hour-day of his takes closer to seven hours, and sometimes even nine hours. In other words, this method might see you working until 9pm at night... but the idea is to help you get those five hours of work done, no matter what. I was with a friend last night who is freelancer. The core part of his job involves social media, and it has done for a few years now. One of the things we talked about was how being on these platforms can easily lure you in, especially with so many emotive and polarising conversations (or shouting matches) happening on the different platforms. "When I am uploading something, it's easy for me to start looking at other stuff and go down rabbit holes", he shared. I wrote about a similar experience with twitter earlier in the week. A couple the things I've implemented in recent weeks is use of a Pomodoro timer to help whilst I am working and leaving my phone someplace else. I also have the Freedom app on my laptop, and I am experimenting with blocking social media in the mornings, and thus only being able to access them in the afternoons. I'm also currently re-reading Cal Newport's Deep Work, such is my will to have a focused year. We'll see how I get on with that. In the meantime, I'm always curious to hear how others are setting themselves up for success when it comes to focusing and being productive in the midst of internet connections and social media.