If you’re an Android user and you’ve made it here – there are tons of other blogs that you will find helpful.. but this is not one of them. I’m sorry I wouldn’t know how to turn on an Android device.
Now – all of you Apple users who fall victim to the distractions of your phone.. PUT YOUR LISTENING EARS ON, because I have news for you!!!
The newest Apple update, iOS 15 has given us the productivity holy grail. And it is called FOCUS.
If you haven’t downloaded the newest update – go do it now, I’ll wait.
Y’all, this update is great in other ways I’m sure – I couldn’t tell you what they are… but focuses are CHANGING my productivity game. And I’m a productivity coach.
So let me give the Kelli definition of what this focus feature is. It basically allows you to choose when you will be distracted by what.
So, you can create focus for different activities.. like ‘personal’, ‘work’, ‘driving’, ‘work out’ — basically you can create what ever focus you want..
Then you choose who can contact you, what apps will notify you while you’re in that focus. You can even customize your home screen to hide specific apps from you while you’re in that focus.
And a bonus to this, you can AUTOMATE.. you know how that gets my motor turnin’, this! You can automate it by time, by location, and by opening specific apps.. or you can turn it on manually.
Creating a Focus
1. Go to Settings > Focus
2. Click the + in the top right corner
3. Click Custom, name your focus, and choose your color & icon
Now is where we get into the details…
4. Choose who can contact you during this time.
For messages, you’ll need to choose each contact that you want to be notified from while you’re in this focus.
For calls, you can either choose all calls, no calls, contacts, or favorites only. I allow my favorites to come thru. You can also choose to allow numbers that call twice within two minutes.
5. Choose Allowed Apps
You’ll be allowed to choose which apps send you notifications while your in this focus – the major benefit to this… no more hearing the ding of the DM and running to respond, you can do exactly what this feature says and stay focused on what you’re doing.
You can also choose to allow ‘Time Sensitive’ apps, that are not selected in this focus to notify you. To choose Time Sensitive, go to Settings > Notifications, then go into the individual apps to be sure ‘Time Sensitive’ is toggled on.
6. Choose your schedule and automation
You can either manually turn on your focus by swiping down from the right corner to open the control center – or – you can create automations that will turn on your focus.
If you choose to automate your focus, you can automate it by time, location, or app (ex. when I open Canva).
Time lets you choose days of the week, and hours.
Location lets you input an address, once your at that address your focus will automatically turn on.
7. Customize a home screen
In each focus you can customize what home screens you will see – and hide those you don’t want to be distracted by. This will make sure that your Bejeweled Blitz isn’t available to you while you’re supposed to be working.
Once you click ‘Home Screen’ you’ll be able to choose which pages you want shown to you while you’re in that focus. You can also choose to have those annoying red bubbles hid from you by toggling on ‘Hide Notification Badges’.
8. Customize your lock screen
If you don’t want your notifications to show on your lock screen, you can toggle off the ‘Show On Lock Screen’ option.
That’s it – you can set up as many of these as you’d like!
How can a work from home entrepreneur use this in her daily life…
I’m really glad you asked!
Let me share a few tips for using this new feature for you work at home babes –
While in ‘WORK’ focus
- Only allow contacts that may need you, like right now. For me, that is my kids, my husband, and my parents – also my doctor..
- Only turn on notifications for apps that you get client or customer communication on. And I don’t mean like Instagram. I mean like Voxer, or Slack. Then consider apps like ‘calendar’ and ‘ClickUp’.
- Use the automated time option. This will help you create business hours and stick to it. If you need to turn it on or off manually you can do that by swiping down in the top right corner to the control panel.
- Build a custom home page with only the apps you need to use on a regular basis.
- Hide the notification bubbles & hide your silenced notifications. This prevents the scroll hole distractions.
While in ‘PERSONAL’ focus
- Turn notifications off on all ‘work’ apps. Stick to those set business hours – you aren’t a brain surgeon Dr. Sheppard.. no one needs you immediately.
- Leave off social media notifications. You don’t need to know each time someone likes, comments, or messages – check them when you want to check them.. don’t let the dings run you.
Other Focuses to Consider
- Driving : When this focus is on, no apps will notify you – and you can choose which contacts can message or call you, it can also send your contacts an automatic reply letting them know you are driving.
- Workout : I set this to automatically turn on when I start a workout on the native Apple workout app.
- Sleep : You can sync this to your ‘Bedtime’ preferences in the ‘Health’ app. It will turn on & off automatically based on the times you have set within that app. The only thing that comes thru the ‘Sleep’ focus for me is calls from favorites, or 2 calls from the same number within 3 minutes. Other than that – I get no notifications until morning.
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