Looking forward to 2023, these are the key habits I want to instill in my day to day life:

  • Listening to more audio content (audio books, podcasts, and music)
  • Walking more (probably whilst listening to audio content)
  • Less time unconsciously ‘consuming’

I posted on Mastodon recently that my theme for 2023 is ‘Distraction Free’, and these habits should help me achieve this.

Listening to more audio content is key. Working from home works great for me, but I sometimes find myself just sat in silence staring at whatever work I am doing. When this happens, I have a tendency to check the news, reddit, or discord… More music, podcasts, and audio books should help here to keep me engaged.

Walking more has a physical health benefit, but should mean I leave the house more often. Working from home full time has meant some weeks when the weather has been ‘not great’, I literally won’t leave the house for days at a time like some kind of gremlin. That needs to change and getting out more should help on days when I am struggling to focus.

I also recently removed social media applications from my phone - most of them are still on my iPad but that means I have to consciously find my iPad (hoping I charged it) to to use them which cuts down on the time I scroll through posts on twitter, mastodon, and instagram. I actually did this a few weeks ago, and the impact is noticeable. I can’t just ‘check the feeds’ right before bed. It’s great. You should all do this.