From Medium Articles

Wasting Time

Is it possible that wasting time can actually be a good use of time? A few weeks back, I was talking with my friend Nick Baum (founder of StoryWorth) about Make Time. He shared with...

How I Tricked Myself Into Meditating

I used Headspace for 400 days and all I got was this lousy sense of clarity and well-being Supposedly, meditation recharges your brain and boosts your ability to focus. Supposedly, it makes you calmer and...

The Distraction-Free Android

Why my Google Pixel is better without Gmail, Chrome, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram… or even Google Back in 2014, after a few hundred thousand other people read about Jake’s Distraction-Free iPhone, I decided to try it...

Start With a Full Calendar

Fill your calendar with stuff that matters to you, before others can fill it for you I just love an empty calendar. It promises something valuable and rare: Time. Time to think, to work, to...

The Might-Do List

I gave up on to-do lists; here's the super simple way I plan my days Last year, I shared my One Big Thing philosophy. The idea is simple: Focusing on one big thing each day...

Notifications Suck, But Infinity Pools Are a Really Big Problem

When Jake and I talk with people about making their iPhone distraction-free, the conversation always starts with notifications: alerts, buzzes, beeps, pop-ups, and the million other things that try to steal your attention. Turning off...

The Slacker’s Guide to New Year’s Resolutions That Stick

My unscientific five-step recipe My New Year’s Resolutions used to fail every time. For example, I set a resolution to “Exercise more.” I vaguely imagined running marathons and wearing headbands. Then in January, I took a...

Fancy Tools Are a Distraction

Here's what I use to stay focused on my work What’s the best to-do app? The most exquisite notepad and pen for taking notes and sketching? The finest watch? It’s not hard to find answers...

A Day Without Meetings

How I started from scratch to create the perfect workday In 2015, while we were writing Sprint, for the first time in my professional life, I had days without meetings. We knew it would require...

How I Used a Vacation Timer to Write a Book

Or, why I shut off the Internet every night at 9pm For years, I tried to start a daily writing habit. See, I had this crazy idea to write a book, and I knew I’d...

How to Send (But Not Receive) Email on Your iPhone

As a Distraction-Free iPhone devotee, I don’t have email on my phone. (To be specific, I don’t have any email accounts set up on my iPhone, and I have the Mail app stashed away in...

One Big Thing: A Simple Way to Do More by Planning Less

I used to be really into to-do lists. That’s a weird interest to have, but it’s true. I read Getting Things Done in 2005, and it became my gospel. I gave a talk on productivity...