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You wake up around 8 AM to draft out your plans for the day. You say to yourself, “Today, I’m doing so much. And nothing is going to stop me.”
So you get up pretty quickly to get started. Fast-forward thirty minutes later, you’ve already covered so much, and it’s starting to look like it might just be your day.
Then suddenly, the devil’s bell rung. Out of nowhere, a notification comes in from Instagram. It’s a new follower alert. And oof… that’s the end of your concentration.
You log in to check the person out but can’t seem to exit IG afterward. It’s just so addictive, and now you’re hooked. So hooked, you can get back to work. So much for wanting to have a productive day.
Does this sound familiar to you in any way? Does it remind you of the times you lost concentration, too?
Indeed, we’ve all been there. Wanting to do so much, then losing focus shortly after, and not being able to regain that spark. If you’re a freelancer or a remote worker, I’m sure you can relate better to this. It happens very often to people who work from home.
In this post, we’re going to be looking at a number of helpful tools that can help people stay focused while working from home.
What is a focus app?
A focus app is a tool that helps you kick out distractions and aid your concentration on the tasks that matter.
A good focus app should be able to do some or all of the following:
- Restrict a list of websites and/or apps (determined by you)
- Allow you to set a schedule and/or a timer
- Be annoying (at the very least) to disable
- Offer encouragement
Based on these criteria, these are some of the best focus apps we believe will work for you.
- LeechBlock NG: Best for blocking sites on particular browsers. Absolutely Free
- Cold Turkey Blocker: Best for blocking apps and sites on desktops
- Freedom: Best for blocking distractions on multiple devices
- Serene: Best for distraction blocking and project management
- Forest: Best motivation for putting away your phone
- LEECHBlOCK NG
ALLOWS YOU TO BLOCK DISTRACTIONS FROM MULTIPLE WEBSITES AT ONCE (Works only with browsers. That is, Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Opera)
LeechBlock NG (Next Generation) is a focus app that lets you block access to certain websites while working remotely.
As you know, when working remotely, one can fall into the dark hole of checking out websites that are not relevant to our work. For example, a remote web developer searching for answers to projects on Google can be sucked into the YouTube Dark hole. Before he knows what’s happening, he’s already wasted 30 minutes watching irrelevant videos.
LeechBlock NG helps to prevent such from happening. The browser-based extension, which is completely free, lets you set a list of sites you want to block access to. While using a browser on your laptop, LeechBlock ensures you can’t access certain websites once you’ve scheduled their block.
There are three options for scheduling a site block on LeechBlock.
1) Outright scheduled block: This blocks a number of sites for a set duration. E.g., from 12 PM to 02:15 PM
2) Limited time scheduled block: This one lets you limit how long you can spend on a target site. E.g., eighteen minutes of Instagram every day, only twelve minutes of Facebook per hour, 3 minutes of Quora every 1.5 hours, etc.
3) Combined scheduled block: This lets you combine options #1 and #2. E.g., five minutes of TikTok every hour between 9AM and 5PM
LeechBlock NUG Downside: Only blocks site access on particular browsers. If you switch browsers, your sites become unblocked.
Pricing: Absolutely free
- COLD TURKEY BLOCKER
ALLOWS YOU TO BLOCK DISTRACTIONS FROM SITES AND APPS ACROSS YOUR DESKTOP (Works with Windows and macOS)
Cold Turkey Blocker is very similar to LeechBlock in a lot of ways. Like LeechBlock, it also functions in a scheduled blocking format, allowing you to block sites for certain durations.
However, unlike LeechBlock, this tool extends to desktop applications. That is, you can block both browser sites and regular apps on your desktop computer. Also, unlike LeechBlock, which is a browser extension, Cold Turkey Blocker (CTB) is a downloadable app that you have to install on your desktop.
There are numerous blocking formats you can execute with this app. For example:
1) You can set CTB to block all fun/entertainment sites and apps on your desktop during working hours. And then block all work-related apps during nighttime.
2) You can turn on the Frozen Turkey mode, which completely blanks your entire desktop computer. This mode makes your computer completely useless for the duration you set it for. This is good for times when you need to reduce your screen time.
For self-sabotaging individuals, CTB developers know you might try to outsmart the app by resetting the time to try and regain access before a session is over. To combat that, they made a blocker that lets you block the Time & Language settings, making it impossible to change the time on your desktop. To make things even more annoying for you, this app can be impossible to install until a session is over.
So you see, there’s no way you’re re-accessing that site/app once it’s blocked with CTB.
Pricing: $39 for unlimited blocking
- FREEDOM
ALLOWS YOU TO BLOCK DISTRACTIONS ON MORE THAN ONE DEVICE (Works with Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, Chrome)
Freedom, in simple terms, is a focus app that helps you block distracting sites and apps on all your devices. Whereas most focus apps only target one device at a time, Freedom targets an app or a site on all your devices once you begin a session.
For example, let’s say you want to start working on a client’s project and you don’t want any pop-up notifications coming in from Facebook, Whatsapp, Twitter, etc. Freedom will not only block the web versions of these sites on your laptop, but it will also block the mobile versions on your smartphones, tablets, and iPads.
For Freedom, the motivation is to stop people from being their own worst enemy. Freedom knows people might block an app or a site on a device and still fall to the temptation of opening the app on other devices. So, they prevent that from happening by working on all your devices in one go.
To make the process even stricter, Freedom has a lockdown mode that prevents you from editing a blocklist while a session is live. So, let’s say you create a list of apps to block, and you lock that down for an hour. If you come back before an hour is up to try and remove an app from the blocklist, Freedom won’t allow you.
Finally, Freedom has some amazing focus sounds that play in the background. You can activate this if you’re the type who loves background sounds while working.
Pricing: Get up to six free distraction-free trial sessions. After that, you will be required to pay $6.99/month.
- SERENE
ALLOWS YOU TO BLOCK DISTRACTIONS FROM SITES AND APPS ACROSS YOUR DESKTOP (Works with macOS)
Serene is not your regular distraction-blocking app. Besides enabling you to focus and concentrate, Serene also reminds you of the tasks ahead.
So, in a way, this macOS app is a combination of focus and task management.
Like the other apps on this post, Serene helps you block access to distracting sites and apps on your desktop computer.
How does it work?
You create a list of apps and sites you think might be distracting you from being productive. After that, you carve out your to-do list for the day and how long you think it’s going to take you to complete each task. Then you hit the ‘GO’ button to launch the timer.
As soon as you begin to work, if you attempt to open an app or visit a site you’ve listed as distracting, Serene will pop a window up reminding you that you’ve blocked that site and that you need to focus because you still have XXX minutes/hours to work for.
Like Freedom, you can have Serene play concentration sounds to you while you go through your day.
Pricing: Free trial for up to 10 working hours. After that, the plan costs $4/month
- FOREST
ALLOWS YOU TO BLOCK DISTRACTIONS BY TUCKING YOUR PHONE AWAY (Works with Android, iOS, Chrome)
Forest works differently from all the other apps on this list. Whereas others rely on your ability to accurately list the sites and apps you think might be distracting you, Forest helps you achieve focus by motivating you to keep your phone away.
It does this through the psychology of the mind.
How does Forest work?
The way Forest works are that you open the app and say you want to plant a tree. Then you tuck your phone away to watch your tree get planted.
Any attempt to pick up your phone and press it will automatically kill your tree. However, if you’re able to refrain from touching your phone for at least a minimum duration of 25 minutes, your tree will live. And that’s how you will gradually build an entire forest of trees.
It might sound like you’re playing a childish game of growing trees on the surface. But for every 25 minutes, you spend growing a tree, you’re actually achieving focus in real-life.
So, when you look at the bigger picture, it’s actually 25 minutes of getting things done instead of scrolling through Instagram.
Pricing: Free on Chrome and Android. But it costs $1.99 for iPhone
How to stay focused while working remotely
So far, we’ve talked about some focus apps we believe can help you. But there’s only so much these apps can do. You need to learn to be disciplined on your own for the apps to be effective.
Below are some tips on how to stay focused while working from home.
- Know thyself
While some folks prefer to work in the morning, there are those who are at their best at night.
Examine yourself and know when you’re most productive. Your most productive hours are likely the best times to find focus. Once you identify when you’re most productive, schedule your most “important” tasks around this period.
- Have a to-do list + timer
To-do list apps can help you create a list of things you plan to do. However, when coupled with a timer, the result is a lot more effective.
While the app will point at the next task to do, the timer will constantly blast notification alarms in your ears, reminding you that it’s time to start, continue, or end a task.
This constant reminder (which sort of puts you on your toes) can help you stay focused once you kickstart a task.
For instance, imagine you allocate one hour to a task. Then somehow, you get caught up on Twitter. All it takes to get you off that app is one notification alert from your timer informing you that you have less than 20 minutes to finish that task.
- Work in your workspace
Having a home office is crucial to staying focused when you work from home. As you know, distractions can come quite easily when you’re home – talk about housemates, TV, pets, and domestic chores.
The best way to ensure none of these disrupts your concentration is to work from a space that’s isolated from the rest of the house.
- Be intentional
I’m creating this piece right now, even though I’m tempted to go watch last night’s episode of Bridgerton. That’s called being intentional. You need to be intentional to get anything done in this life. And that includes your everyday tasks.
It’s true that when you work from home, it is easier to become distracted. However, if your will to work is stronger than the distractions, you’ll almost always find yourself working most times.