Then I took my glasses off so the words were more or less unreadable, and my timing went to 0.61/0.64s. 100% accuracy both times. Maybe the true trick is figuring out how to effectively block out. Focus mode first appeared in Word 2011, and it stuck around, quietly gathering fans, for the next five years. When Microsoft dispensed with the feature in Word 2016, it set off a minor outcry.

1. Find Focus 1 0 24 – Block Distractions Words List
2. Find Focus 1 0 24 – Block Distractions Words Worksheet
3. Find Focus 1 0 24 – Block Distractions Words Examples

Block those distracting apps and websites. Having your phone beeping every half an hour cannot help you focus on your job. Do not simply turn on the sound of your phone or PC – block or hide the notifications in order to avoid visual distraction! Use tools to block online distractions and keep better focus. Keep track of your activities. The rules remove any possibility of distraction — no matter how brief — and this seems to improve my focus. “There’s a real sense of momentum here,” I write in my notes. At 5:30, I decide to do one final small task block to shut down my day. I treat this like a challenge: how much can I squeeze into one 30-minute block?

Excerpt from How to Succeed in Business? Do Less by Morten T. Hansen:

Most top performers in business have one thing in common: They accept fewer tasks and then obsess over getting them right.

The common practice we found among the highest-ranked performers in our study wasn’t at all what we expected. It wasn’t a better ability to organize or delegate. Instead, top performers mastered selectivity. Whenever they could, they carefully selected which priorities, tasks, meetings, customers, ideas or steps to undertake and which to let go. They then applied intense, targeted effort on those few priorities in order to excel. We found that just a few key work practices related to such selectivity accounted for two-thirds of the variation in performance among our subjects. Talent, effort and luck undoubtedly mattered as well, but not nearly as much.

The research makes clear that we should change our individual work habits if we wish to perform better, but the implications are much more far-reaching. We also need to change how we manage and reward work, how we measure economic productivity and perhaps most important, how our culture recognizes hard work. We should no longer take it as an automatic compliment to hear that we’re “hard working.” Hard work isn’t always the best work. The key is to work smarter.

Notes:
(1) This doesn’t mean that companies should adopt fewer goals. Companies may achieve more by having teams or individuals working on different goals. But individuals must focus.
(2) My golden management rule: in every interaction with people in your company, ensure you Focus, Empower, and Inspire. This excerpt provides one of the ways to help people become more focused — help them to accept fewer tasks.
(3) Cf. (i) The best work question to ask yourself every morning, (ii) If you want to get more done, stop doing these things, (iii) Saying “no” to good ideas.

scarce things is human attention. With an increasing number of apps resorting to notifications to announce new features, even a tiny pop-up can be quite distracting. Though most of us usually think of smartphones as the main culprit, let's not forget the humble PC. Yes, this piece of machinery also ends up distracting us more than we believe.Thankfully, Windows 10 Spring Creators Update (build 17083) has included a cool new feature named Focus Assist, which lets you enable a Do Not Disturb (DND) mode, similar to the one on phones.

What is Focus Assist

Focus Assist isn't just any other random DND mode for your PC. Instead of barricading the PC from all the tiring and distracting notifications, this feature presents a configurable interface which you can customize as per your requirements.

How to Enable & Configure Focus Assist

Step 1: Head over to Settings > System and click on Focus Assist.Alternately, you can hit Windows key+Q for Cortana and type Focus Assist.
Step 2: Once in, you'll notice two different modes — Priority only and Alarm only.As obvious, Alarms only will block all notifications except for alarms, just like the default DND feature of your smartphone.
Step 3: If you're looking for a more configurable option check the Priority only option and click on the Customize your priority list link.Under the Priority list, you will be able to choose (and manage) notifications from three places – Apps, People, and lastly Phone. Choose the apps and options as per your preference and that's it! No more disturbing notifications to bother you during your work.

Configuring App, People, and Phone Work on Focus Assist

The concept of adding an app to Focus Assist is simple. Just choose an app which you deem important enough to be disturbed when you work and that's about it. The People app also works in a similar manner. Just make sure that the contact book is synced with the other apps such as Mail.It's the concept of Phone notifications that is slightly different. This feature will only work if you have Cortana installed on your phone, which in turn should be configured with the same ID as is on your PC. If the said link exists, you can choose to receive notifications from any (or all) of the given options.
Phone notifications will only work if you have Cortana installed on your phoneHowever, if you don't have an Android phone i.e. if you're an iOS user, this option will be out of bounds for you.Cool Fact: Focus Assist also lets you see the summary of the notifications that you missed when the feature was active.

Configuring Automatic Rules

The good news is that Focus Assist is not just meant to be activated when you work. You can also enable it when you're playing your favorite game on your PC and that is accomplished with the help of the Automatic rules.All you have to do is set them up as per your liking. As expected, the option names are self explanatory. Say for example, the 'During these times option' will let you have a permanent fixed schedule during which all notifications will be blocked.
One of the best things about setting the automatic rules while playing games is that the system will automatically detect when you're playing a full-screen PC game, and will block notifications from popping up on the display (aren't pop-ups during games the worst?).

Find Focus 1 0 24 – Block Distractions Words List

However, I found the 'When I'm duplicating my display' option to be the best one. This mode is important when you have to share your screen (via a projector or a secondary monitor) during presentations.

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Bonus Point: How to use the new Timeline Feature

The Windows 10 Spring Creators Update build 17083 comes with another new feature called Timeline Feature. As suggestive of its name, it gives you a visual representation of what you've been working on. The good thing about the Timeline feature is that you can go back at least a week and see your activities.To see the Timeline feature, click on the TaskView icon next to Cortana, and everything will be revealed to you at once.Timeline is enabled by default. However, if you wish that these activities should only be confined to your system, you can turn it off. Navigate to Settings > Privacy > Activity History and uncheck the two options that you see on the right pane.

Tune Out all the Distractions

Notification distraction is actually a huge problem, especially for people like me who are easily diverted from the job at hand by the tiniest of alert pop-up.Are you able to give your full attention when you work on a particular thing? If not, this new Windows 10 feature might just be your new BFF.
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