Seven Free & Paid Tools to Help You Work Without Distractions
Posted January 21, 2010 in Productivity 29 Comments »
If you freelance from home, you struggle with distractions all the time. It’s easy to give in to the lure of the TV, the seduction of the refrigerator and the enticement of your favorite videogame or book when you’re at home.
This is a problem, because a freelancer’s income is correlated with his productivity. The faster you can do your work, the more income you can earn. Therefore, it’s extremely important to develop the discipline of working without distractions.
How to Work Without Distractions
Some things are obvious. Turn off your phone’s ringer and let the answering machine do its work. On your computer, quit your email, Tweetdeck and web browser.
But sometimes, these simple things aren’t enough. Some of us need physical and virtual “blinders” to keep distractions at bay.
Here are a number of tools you can use to minimize and control distractions when you work. Some are free, some you have to pay for. Not all will work with your computer.
Check them out and see which ones are a good fit for you:
1. WriteMonkey
(Windows, free)
A software for writers, WriteMonkey blacks out your screen, so all you see are the words you type. This is best for writers who find all the bells and whistles of a typical word processor to be distracting. For example, if you’re tempted to format the text as soon as you type them, then WriteMonkey is probably right for you.
Users also rave about the ability to turn on the click-clack sound of an old-fashioned, manual typewriter.
2. WriteRoom
(Mac, $24.95 after free trial)
The distraction-busting software for writers on a Mac, WriteRoom also shows only a simple blank screen and the text you write. The default setting is a black screen with green text, reminiscent of when computers first became available for personal use in the ’80s. However, you can change the colors and fonts to anything you want.
3. Dark Room
(Windows, free)
Admittedly a clone of WriteRoom, Dark Room does pretty much what WriteRoom does, but on Windows and without costing anything.
Now let’s look at distraction minimizing tools for tasks other than writing:
4. Think
(Mac, free)
Think blacks out your screen, except for the one application of your choice. For example, if you’re processing your emails, launch Think and select the icon for your mail software. Only your mail window will be visible; the rest of your screen will be black.
You can control the opacity of the black backdrop, and you can move to another application easily, when you have to.
5. RescueTime
(Mac and Windows, free and paid versions)
We’ve already reviewed RescueTime RescueTime in an earlier list of productivity tools. However, I think it’s helpful to explain exactly how the tools works.
Here’s how it works: RescueTime tracks your web browsing behavior, making a log of the sites you visit and deciding which ones are distractions. You can, of course, override this list and add or remove certain sites. Then you tell RescueTime how long you’d like to focus. For that amount of time, you won’t be able to access your distracting sites.
RescueTime is web-based and therefore works on both Mac and Windows. It’s much more than a focusing tool. It also tracks how much time you spend on each of the computer applications you use, as well as the different sites you visit online. Therefore, RescueTime will help you learn exactly how you spend your time when you’re at the computer.
6. Freedom
(Mac, free)
This is the hardcore version of RescueTime. Freedom will disable all networking on your Mac for the amount of time you specify, up to a maximum of eight hours at a time. If you change your mind and decide you need the Internet sooner, you’ll have to reboot. Those on a local network can select a Local Access mode.
7. Egg Timer
(Mac and Windows, price varies)
This isn’t software, and you probably already have this in your kitchen somewhere. Yes, a good, old-fashioned egg timer may be all you need to work without distractions.
Set it for the amount of time you’d like to focus, and then simply shut everything out until it goes off. An egg timer works much better than watching the clock, because it constantly reminds you that your focus time does have an end. Knowing you have to focus for only two more minutes, for example, is enough to prevent you from stealing a glance at Tweetdeck.
Or, seeing you only have seven minutes left to finish that blog post may be all you need to simply get it done. Some of us work best under pressure, and the egg timer gives us that pressure — not to mention the pleasure of hearing it go off.
How Do You Focus?
Do you use any of the tools mentioned above? If so, what has been your experience so far? Or do you use another tool to manage distractions? Do share how you eliminate distractions when you work.
Image by Tanakawho
About the author: Lexi Rodrigo is the creator of The Savvy Freelancer, a blog that's all about achieving creative and financial freedom through freelancing. Check out Lexi's free guide, 31 Days to Start Your Freelancing Business (or Make Yours A Better One).
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29 Comments
Ronda Levine
January 21st, 2010 at 9:17 amAnother help for focusing (especially on difficult projects) is to bookend the work you have to do. Find a freelance partner, and tell them “I’m going to work on x, now.” Your partner will then check in with you in a specified amount of time. It’s amazing how well this trick works.
Anne-Marie Kirwan
January 21st, 2010 at 10:35 amThanks for this. After reading the article I downloaded WriteMonkey and was able to finish something that I’ve been putting off all week.
Lexi Rodrigo
January 21st, 2010 at 10:48 am@Ronda Levine – Thanks for the tip! I’d never thought of finding an accountability partner for my freelancing work before. I’ve done it for personal stuff and I know it works.
@Anne-Marie Kirwan – You go, girl! Thanks for letting us know :-)
Wong
January 21st, 2010 at 11:11 amI normally use the combination of two tools
1.) Concentrate(mac, $29): http://getconcentrating.com/
2.) Isolator(mac, free): http://willmore.eu/software/isolator/
Concentrate help me to quit unnecessary apps and keep me away from distraction sites plus a timer to let me stay focus.
Isolator is similar to Think which help you to blacks out your screen and stay focus on 1 application window.
Lady Tha ProducHer
January 21st, 2010 at 1:07 pmNice article… I’ve heard some good things about WriteMonkey. Will look into the others as well. Thanks for the info.
Also great tips: @Ronda and @Wong
-Lady Tha ProducHer
http://www.studionoize.com
Harry - GoalsOnTrack
January 21st, 2010 at 1:42 pmI find what works for me is to try not to think about what immediately at hand, only what I need to worrry/think about now, at this moment. This helps especially if you can break down a bigger task/thing down to piece small enough that you can focus on completely.
Domenick
January 21st, 2010 at 1:50 pmMrs. Lexi, this is what I need, might just cut some of those 2-3am in the morning trying to get things finished up down to a minimum or none at all. I usually get done what I need to get done, but damn if I don’t make it harder on myself. Thanks again.
Carole
January 21st, 2010 at 2:11 pmI really like Now Do This (http://nowdothis.com/).
It’s extremely simple, but I like how it helps me re-focus after a phone call or other distraction.
Web Design New York
January 21st, 2010 at 3:07 pmWonderful stuff here…just what I need.
I really benefited from the list.
Thanks for your sharing!
Lisa
January 21st, 2010 at 3:58 pmNice article, Lexi. I’m planning to give RescueTime a spin for general use – but might try WriteRoom for writing.
Lexi Rodrigo
January 21st, 2010 at 4:50 pm@Wong, @Carole & @Harry – Thanks for the suggestions. I’ll check out those tools as well.
@Domenick – I hope one of the recommendations in this post will help you get more sleep :-)
@Web Design New York – Glad to hear it :-)
@Lisa – Just downloaded RescueTime too, but I’m almost too afraid to see my time log, LOL!
Sonia Simone
January 21st, 2010 at 7:22 pmThese are great, Lexi, thank you! I find that carving out chunks of focused time is essential (and tricky) if I want to actually make any progress.
Heather Villa
January 22nd, 2010 at 7:50 amGreat list! I’m going to consider using one of the apps you’ve mentioned. Right now I avoid distractions with will power. Will power is not always effective, but it’s an exercise in personal discipline for me as well.
Lexi Rodrigo
January 22nd, 2010 at 2:14 pm@Sonia – Time chunking really works!
@Heather – If we all had enough will power, we wouldn’t need these tools. Everybody needs (a little) help now and then :-)
Bruce Colthart (@bccreative)
January 22nd, 2010 at 2:32 pmNice collection; I’ve not heard of some of these.
I have Focus Booster (http://www.focusboosterapp.com/), a discreet little free Air app that is essentially a Pomodoro (http://www.pomodorotechnique.com/) timer with a handy break-timer built in.
Stephen Webb
January 25th, 2010 at 5:27 amThere are some good tools here that I think will certainly help you work more efficiently and productively. Amongst the best seem to be the website blockers, as I think the main distractions for freelancers are social networking sites. Having twitter feeds running in the background or sidebar is certainly a major distraction, so anything that targets these can only help your workflow.
I like the idea of ‘Write Room’ and its similar counterparts. The problem with word processing today is that it has so many tools and options that the basic task of writing is all too easily distracted. Having software that blocks out all of these, leaving only the bare text is essential for concentrating solely on the task of writing rather than formatting.
I will be bookmarking this for future reference as the software covered could certainly come in useful at some stage. It will be interesting to read the comments and suggestion surrounding these choices.
Marketing and Management
March 6th, 2010 at 4:55 amIt is very amazing to hear that some software is available to reduce our distraction during our work time.
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