Welcome back to a new lecture where we'll be going over arguably one of the most game changing techniques you can do to exponentially amplify your time. In today's day and age, there is so much noise. And when I say noise, I mean distractions or interferences are really what we're trying to get done. And we're talking about billboards in in TV commercials and radio ads, and just so much noise. And as we've learned throughout this course, changing our environment can be super beneficial to our productivity levels. So sometimes we just need to get rid of all that noise that's going on around us and just stay focused.

So let's talk about a very simple change that we can make with the right discipline. Yep, we're talking about notifications. Again, in today's world, we get notifications for everything. text messages, emails, Facebook stock prices. security alerts, etc, etc. The list goes on and on.

Most people think notifications are limited to emails and text messages. And, you know, while those are the two biggest, there are tons of other notifications that we receive. In fact, according to the business of apps, the average smartphone user and this is insane. By the way, the average smartphone user receives anywhere from 32 to 85. push notifications every single day. What that is insane. But what's even more insane is the fact that this number is only growing.

So why am I telling you this? We all know this, right? We all know that we get tons of notifications. Well, surprisingly, notifications are the absolute death, death of productivity. Most people think notifications keep us on top of our game, which you know, they aren't totally wrong. You know more on this just a little bit but notifications are mainly distractions, notifications keep us informed, but do they really keep us productive?

So according to Gallup research shows that when you're interrupted from a task by anything, by the way, not just a notification, but when you're interrupted from a task, research shows that the task will be resumed, on average 23 minutes and 15 seconds later, what in that's only if the task is resumed on that same day, that only happens at 1.9% of the time. So almost 20% of the time, a task is resumed on a different day. Absolutely own real. Let that sink in a little bit. 20% of the time, you get a text message or an email. You don't even go back to the thing you were doing, checking that text message or email or replying or doing any of those things could get you off track for 23 plus minutes.

Now we all know that interrupting a task leads to a loss of concentration, a decline in productivity levels. But I bet we all didn't know how long it takes us to get back on track. One quick email or text message or checking your stock price could absolutely ruin us. So this, this is why I'm telling you this, there is a solution to this issue, which will put you miles ahead of everyone else when it comes to productivity. But this solution is meaningless without self discipline, hence why I'm going into so much depth to get you emotionally invested in this. So while we all love notifications, they bring us down.

Okay, so how do we get out of this pit? Well, it's simple to say, well, notifications, we're talking emails, texts, social media, etc. I know it's so important to know what's going on though. So here's how we get The best of both worlds, we essentially have scheduled time boxing for these tasks. So I want you to give yourself three or four times a day to check in on social media and emails. Bam.

It's as simple as that. For me, I check in on these things in the morning or on 6am and then again, just before lunch, then in the evening, I'll check in around five and then again before bed around nine. That way I'm super productive, sending texts, emails, keeping up to date with friends and family on social media and etc, etc. During these specific times. This technique is incredible. If you actually have the self discipline to carry it out.

And let me tell you, it is not easy. Okay? I struggle sticking to this every single day of my life, but I will say the days I do stick to this, I definitely see productivity levels rise. And I think it's also important to note that if you fear missing a critical email or a text that is time sensitive, you can set up an autoresponder that will inform people of your schedule. That way, you know, if it's something urgent, they will know to give you a call or to do some other sort of task to get your attention. I've actually done this in the past with my personal email addresses and it's actually worked pretty well.

So I mean, if you're unsure of how to set up an autoresponder then just give it a quick Google search. Every email provider is different, but it's a very simple thing to do. But pretty much the responder would just say, Hey, this is an autoresponder email or an autoresponder text. I am busy right now I'll go ahead and get to your email or text message at these times of the day. If it's urgent, give me a call some as simple as that. But that will pretty much wrap up this lecture.

Again, notifications are the bane of productivity. So if you actually want to stay focused to get tasks done effectively, then just disable notifications or throw your phone somewhere where you can't get to it. Have faith in the process. This won't be easy to do. today's world is so tapped in everything is about speed. Little do we all know though it's not necessary.

So again, Try to work into this habit of disabling your notifications, and only checking in on things during certain times of the day. Believe me when I say this, you'll see your productivity levels skyrocket, I promise. And hopefully that'll be your motivation in and of itself to give this a shot. But again, hopefully this lecture has helped you continue on with me as we go over a few more hidden gems to amplifying your productivity levels. I'll see you in the next lecture.