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  1. Home
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  3. Phone Hacks: 3 Steps to set Your Phone for a Seamless Work Morning
Career AdviceIndustry InsiderStudy TipsResources

Published 10 Jul 2019

Phone Hacks: 3 Steps to set Your Phone for a Seamless Work Morning

by McKenzie Collins

Are you sick of the way social media interrupts your morning routine? Here’s how to best set up your iPhone or Android to ensure your morning is both seamless and efficient.

One of the key reasons we find ourselves feeling either distracted or ill-focused, particularly in the morning, comes down to the way we use our phones.

This is ironic given that for most of us, the very first thing we do when we begin our day, is to check our notifications.

The truth is, a habit like this is not only affecting how we feel when we initially wake up, it’s affecting how much time we have in the morning too. Fortunately, it doesn’t have to be like this.

As much as our Apple iPhones, iPads, Android phones and Samsung phones can be a mechanism for distraction, they can also be a tool for promoting optimal productivity, focus and flow.

At the core of using your phone to commandeering a seamless morning comes down to one important lesson: that’s an ability to distinguish the tools that progress you, aside from the others that merely increase your screen time.

Step 1: Configure your home screen.


We all have certain apps that far from help the way we progress in our day-to-day; rather, they act as guilty pleasures.

For most of us, that includes social media platforms that can result in many hours lost to endless scrolling.

Key to a morning free of distraction and interruptions is removing these unnecessary apps from your homepage.

A swipe right [to alternate pages on your phone] will in this case provide active reminder to refocus, or to take a real break [not a scrolling one].

Configuring your homepage with only mandatory and work-related apps every day will ensure your attention is directed solely to priority tasks.

Here’s some apps we allow on our home-page:

  • Safari [for research-focused web pages only]
  • Notes/Evernote [for note-taking and to-do lists]
  • G-mail [our work gmail only!]
  • Reminders
  • Clock
  • Calendar app/Google Calendar
  • Google Maps
  • Dropbox
  • Bluetooth/iCloud

And some apps we don’t:

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Messenger/Whatsapp
  • Photo Editing apps
  • Snapchat
  • Music (Spotify, Soundcloud, Itunes etc.)
  • Youtube
  • Uber Eats

Our advice: bury social media apps deep within a far-away folder if you have to!

Step 2: Turn off social notifications


If removing unnecessary apps from your homepage isn’t enough, take things a step further and turn off your notifications.

At the heart of a shambolic and unproductive morning is a stream of notifications seeping through your lock screen.

Even the toughest of individuals will find them hard to resist. Sometimes, it’s best to remove them from your mobile device altogether.

It’s impossible to give any task your full attention whilst your phone buzzes with text messages and phone calls.

Turning off notifications especially from messaging apps, offers a much-needed false impression that we’re not missing out on anything important.

And too, that nothing else requires our attention, other than, of course, the work-related task at hand.

DID YOU KNOW? Myelin growth, which is required to learn and to develop different parts of your brain, requires sustained focus in order to activate. When we interrupt the growth of Myelin around active neural pathways, our ability to take in and to act on information is severely lessened.

The result? Our mornings are far slower and clumsier in nature! We might even find ourselves repeating the same tasks in the afternoon!

Step 3: Activate your clock app!


A great way to ensure you stay accountable to where you ought to be, and what you ought to be doing throughout the morning, is by use of the clock app.

The benefits of this tool are plentiful, particularly given its capacity as both a timer and an alarm.

If ideally, you should be on your way to work by 8am, why not set an alarm for 10 minutes before you need to leave?

Take advantage of being able to choose your own soundtrack and select a tune that compliments the vibe of your morning!

If you need to feel calm and composed, opt for a peaceful, familiar ringtone. If you’re in need of some motivation, perhaps choose a fast-paced pop or hip-hop track!

When you make it to work, switch your clock app from alarm to timer. If you need to spend roughly two hours on a task, set your timer, turn on do not disturb, and commit to two hours of consistent, productive work.

When the timer is up, you’ll be encouraged to take a break, which is important for maintaining long term productivity, and also, for promoting your own positive mental space.


Continue to utilise the clock app throughout the day, to turn on and off your notifications as you begin new tasks and to leave time-wasting apps in second or third pages on your phone!


This way, you’ll guarantee more than just a seamless morning, but an optimal day in which you’re not fighting with your phone; rather, you’ll be utilising its best, new features!

Remember that your phone doesn’t have to be an evil device, when it comes to ensuring a morning is seamless and efficient! Don’t forget: it’s all in the way use it.

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McKenzie Collins

McKenzie Collins is a freelance digital media marketing manager, content curator and editor of her own lifestyle platform, Currently Loving. With a passion for writing, connecting with people and becoming her best self, you’ll find her across every opportunity to do so.

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