My home laptop is where I code a lot and do a lot of work. But sometimes it can become a distraction if unwanted things are in our browser. To stay focused, it is better to have the right things open so that we don't deviate from what we are supposed to be doing. In my case, I have 100 tabs open at the same time and when I start working on something seriously, I end up jumping between one tab to another and end up spending several hours doing nothing productive.
Using new desktop feature
This is when I learned about using the new desktop feature and I started using this feature on windows laptops. There is a facility available where we can create another new desktop where there can be little to no additional distractions than what we are focused to be working on. This has helped me a lot in increasing my productivity.
I usually work on multiple projects and I used to keep jumping from one project to another project continuously. Later I realized that I should have some control over this and that is when I started using this feature where I have multiple desktops and each is for different things. Mostly I make sure I don't have more than 3 desktops on my laptop.
Disabling the notifications
This is the most important step if we don't need distraction. It is not just the visual notification but we shouldn't be having any sounds set for our notifications either. It is our nature that whenever we hear some sound, we tend to get distracted and take a look at our notifications. This happens even on our mobile devices. If we are planning to focus on something, it is essential to turn off notifications and continue focusing on our tasks alone.
Having a to-do list on the screen
A simple sticky note is good for this. I have the habit of going to my desktop quite often. I keep doing Windows + D quite often. Then I open my sticky notes to see which task I have as top priority and I get back to that task. This way it helps me not forget my task and also helps me get back to the task that I was doing. People might have different types of to-do lists but whichever works for them can be used.
It is very important to not pile up with many to-do items. We have to maintain a to-do item only if we can clear that frequently. If we are not able to clear the to-do list, then there is no point in having a to-do list at all.
Habit of frequent shutting down
This is a good practice to close all the applications and open them only when it is needed. This way we won't jump from one application to another application frequently. Having the habit of shutting down helps us doing this. In order to shut down the laptop, we anyways have to close all the applications. This way our working becomes easier with less distractions.
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