Turn off alerts so you can focus Jun22 '06
Sometimes I can’t focus at work, and it’s partially due to all the "alerts" that come in.
For instance:
- Telephone ringing
- Instant messages popping up on my screen
- Email notification box popping up on my screen
- People knocking on my door
The best thing I find to do is turn off the alerts.
There is not much you can do for people knocking on your door, but everything else you can control.
Turning my telephone on "Do Not Disturb" allows me to check messages later, when I have an opportunity.
Making sure incoming instant messages aren’t popping up into my work space, on top of all applications, on screen. This is really annoying, especially when you’re typing in another application, then a new instant message comes in, sits in the middle of your screen, and your typing then starts to appear in the "Reply" box of the instant message. Quite aggravating.
To fix this, I’ve dumped AIM, and started using Meebo, which is a great service that sits quietly in your browser, and doesn’t distract you when new messages come in. Not to mention there’s no ads and all that other crap that comes with AIM.
I’ve also turned off my email notification box, that usually appears in the taskbar of Windows. Although this is a much more "subtle" alert, it still catches my eye, and my focus slips for just that second, which is enough to distract.
New emails will be seen when I manually switch to my inbox. Simple as that.
Any other alerts you can think of - turn ’em off.
I don’t mean to shut myself out from the outside world, but sometimes that’s what it takes to focus on anything.
Categories: Productivity 
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Agreed. I can’t tell you how many times my boss has come by my computer to talk, then I get an instant message from something like "SexyBetsy ... Read more.
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Turning off these notifications is critical if you are ever leading a meeting as well. I learned this one the hard way when one my college friends ... Read more.