David Janner, Author at MAKE APP Magazine

9 Strategies to Cure Internet & Phone Addiction, Stop Distraction & Be More Mindful

Distraction is something that plagues me and I’m sure you as well.

These days we are bombarded by constant advertising & messages, vying for our attention, trying to suck us in.

I know that this is a constant struggle for me.

To the point that I have become addicted to the internet. Addicted to my phone. When I’m not plugged into the net I feel irritated and irritable – classic withdrawal symptoms.

And I bet that most of you reading this also feel something similar. Maybe you’re not aware of it, but if not – then you should be.

What are the things that distract me most?

Apps

Apps and games on my phone are big culprits.

Facebook is particularly bad. When I enter it I find myself scrolling for a long time. It is highly addictive.

Instagram is similarly bad.

Notifications from games often send me over to play them and I can lose an hour easily.

Going over to Google Now and reading the news. Or heading over to news websites.

Getting notifications from my work related apps – email, slack.

Web

On the web, I often find myself doing useless tasks – such as checking analytics, checking revenue reports for our apps. (It’s OK to find a scheduled time to do this, but I find it generally is a bad habit).

Facebook on the web, like mobile, can suddenly waste unintended time.

I can also spend quite a bit of time watching TV series online. I start with one. Then another. Then another. And then hours have gone. Not that watching TV series is totally bad, but spending a whole evening binge watching doesn’t leave me feeling better.

Curing Modern Day Distraction

So, here are some solutions for our modern day distractions.

1) Delete apps that you have no use for from your phone

I deleted Instagram – it was purely voyeuristic, so that is out.

2) Nuke the internet on your phone

I just started doing this today – this is a great one. Turn off wifi and mobile data and voila! Suddenly your phone is a phone once again and not a high end pocket sized computer. No more distractions. Instead only turn on the internet only if you really need to – and then turn it back off!

This allows me to check in to work related stuff when I’m mobile, but not to get distracted by all the notifications coming in.

3) Leave your phone at home

This is also great. If you go out with friends or with your spouse, then consider leaving your phone at home.

My girlfriend and I have started doing this from time to time and it feels SO freeing to be out without the safety blanket that we mindlessly reach for in our pockets.

I need to do this more!

4) Turn off notifications from apps

I switched off notifications from all the apps that I found distracting.

Facebook I didn’t delete – because I need this for my work testing FB login to our apps and competitor apps and I’m in some business related groups which are important for me. But I shut off all notifications from FB so that I would only go into the app on my own accord and not because I got some silly notification.

5) Get a feature phone?

I have a friend who still carries around an old Nokia that can only make calls and SMSs! No internet!

Personally I find it too useful and important for my business to be able to respond to my team when I’m mobile, but this is a brave and possibly sensible step for some.

6) Don’t put your phone next to your bed at night

I’ve been doing this for a while and this is great.

If the phone is next to me in my bedroom then I will automatically reach to it before I go to sleep to check stuff. And when I wake up I’ll automatically reach for phone and get sucked into its endless labyrinth, ruining the mindfulness that I’m trying to cultivate.

So when I go to sleep I leave my phone in the family room, set the alarm and head off to bed… phoneless!

Highly recommended.

7) Schedule Screen-free time

I’ve been trying to institute screen-free time before I go to sleep.

I’ve set an alarm for 21:30 at night which is supposed to remind me to shut off all screens (phone, computer – I don’t have a TV at home!).

… and 2230 I have an alarm which is supposed to remind me to get into bed.

I’ve been a bit ‘naughty’ with these rules, so I’ll need to try and push these habits a bit harder.

8) Use web apps that block sites and internet

I’ve been using StayFocusd which is a web app for Chrome which can let you easily block certain sites or limit the amount of time you spend on those sites (and even sites linked to from those sites!)

It also has a “nuclear” option to block all problematic sites or even switch off the internet completely for a certain amount of time…

Theres another app that seems quite popular, Freedom, which I have yet to try – works on iPhone, iPad, and Mac and Windows.

For android devices there are apps like ClearLock which might do the trick… downloading that one right now!

And this one seems REALLY cool! Forest dubs itself “the best cure for phone addiction”!

9) Find more productive things to do when you are disconnected

Now that you’ve freed up a lot of your spare time, you should fill it in with something more useful and productive.

Some things that I do or would like to do (or do more of):

Go for a phone-free walk with your spouse.

Meditate.

Write a blog post.

Journal.

Exercise (I like Brazilian Jiu Jitsu), running.

Read.

Meet up with friends.

Speak to friends.

Summary

I hope this helps you. In these modern times I think way too many of us are internet and phone addicts. I know I am and by taking these steps above I hope you and I can become less distracted & more mindful in our every day lives!

Investing the new way?

We’ve all been told that we should buy index funds, invest in the stock market, diversify our portfolio, buy real estate.

Is this REALLY what we should be doing?

At most these vehicles get you around 5-8% per year on average. Real estate often leaves you highly leveraged and in debt.

And worst of all with all these investment vehicles, you have very little control…

So, I’m just thinking out loud here and kinda shooting from the hip… what I’d really like to invest in are my own businesses.

The thing is though, to succeed in business you need to FOCUS (at least that’s one of the major lessons that I’ve learnt).

For example, at the moment my sole focus is building up our new social casino brand MegaRama. I can’t and don’t want to devote attention to other business ventures.

The thing is I’m an entrepreneur (God Darn It!) and there are lots of cool ideas and things I’d like to get off the ground. I LOVE building software products, because these often solve a pressing need and business wise they are great (build it once, keep getting paid). And I love this creative process…

So, lets say that I spy a nice little opportunity in my market. Let’s say that this is something that might even be able to aid my core business (for example, see the post I wrote about tools which post app store reviews to slack).

I can do the initial validation, hire someone on Upwork to build a prototype and get the ball rolling. The issue is that the marketing and upkeep seem like a lot of work… which is where I need an able bodied soul to take up the mantle and get the project running.

I could provide some relatively minimal funds to get the business ignited until it starts paying for itself (better be quick!) and then my new-found business partner could continue building up the business.

And with some thumb in the air calculations:

Lets say I invest about $500 to build the initial prototype and provide lets say $1,000 per month budget for a limit of 10k (i.e. 10 months runway).

And lets say that the tool then brings in a steady $2k per month with relatively minimal upkeep, $1k expenses per month including marketing… So I invested about 11k and the company gets about 12k in profit pre-tax, 6k after-tax. And let’s say that we split this 50-50 (3k each), taking it out as a dividend (another 30% or so tax, depending where you are, so each gets about 2k net of tax per year).

So that’s a pretty crappy and dismal business situation, I admit. No one is drawing a salary or anything and no one would hear about us on Techcrunch, but still I would be getting a 2k profit on 11k invested, which is over 18% return AFTER TAX (I’m awful at maths so if I made a mistake let me know…)

It has the added advantage that I control it and have some power to influence the success or failure of the investment.

Now this would only be worthwhile if on my end I had to spend very little time on the project (so that I will not be distracted from my focus on the main business). My partner would foot the sweat equity.

Of course the situation could be different. I might lose everything that I invested. Or the business could take off and make a lot more money.

But… interesting and fun and potentially worth trying out…

So what would I need to make this happen?

I’ve got quite a few ideas, no lack there.

Main issue is having people that I can rely on to execute on my vision…

Ideally this person would be a developer who can execute the project, but not necessarily, since it is quite easy to find good web developers online.

Partnership isn’t easy, I would need to have some sort of ongoing relationship with the person beforehand to know that we would be able to work together…

So anyway, those are my random thoughts on the subject.

If you think you’d be suitable to partner with me on some projects, then reach out to me and lets talk.

Tips for Hiring Freelancers Effectively on Upwork

Upwork (formerly oDesk and Elance, companies have merged) is by far the best site online I know to find freelance workers.

Our whole company is based on Upwork, so thank God for them!

Here is a bunch for short tips for how to hire freelancers effectively on Upwork for those who are new to the site…

1. Don’t just post one job…

There are so many jobs being posted on Upwork, that if you don’t “refresh” your posting by posting new jobs your original post will get swept away with the tide.

Posting new job postings DAILY is fine! Do it.

Also, when posting multiple jobs for the same role, try different things: for example different job posting names, different (but still relevant) categories, etc…

Try different things so that you give yourself the best chance to find top talent.

2. Make the name of the job post attractive and relevant

example-upwork-job-posts

Above is an example of some of our own jobs that we have created.

I’ve included here in the job titles the experience needed (e.g. entry level / junior), what type of position this is for (e.g. Full Time / Part Time, etc…) and the job role (Graphic Designer, Virtual Assistant…).

There is no one way to do this, but remember that your job needs to stand out against all the competition!

So think copywriting when you create the job title and description – you are trying to SELL your company actually.

3. Include screening questions in the job description

Having good screening questions will save you a HUGE headache in sorting out applicants. This is a MASSIVE HACK that I recommend that you use.

Don’t just include bullshit nonsense questions, make them actually useful.

There are two major types of questions that I use.

One type of question is related to requirements that are necessary for the job.

Examples for these types of questions:

What type of computer do you use?

(If I need a mac user, anyone who doesn’t have a mac is automatically disqualified.)

What devices do you have for testing?

(If I need a QA tester who has certain android and iOS devices, if he doesn’t have them he is out.)

The other type are actual queries that I’m uncertain about and want clarification on.

For example, lets say I want to make a cross platform app and I actually really need to know what is the best language / framework to use for this, then I will include that as a screening question.

Our app needs to be cross platform, working on both iOS and Android devices. Which framework or language do you recommend to use to achieve this and please explain why…

So in this example, this is a truly important question that I need to know. Applicants who are spammy and don’t take the time to properly read and answer job postings either won’t write anything or will write a copy and paste bullshit answer – all those guys are automatically out.

Then from the guys who actually take the time to respond, you can compare their answers and usually several things will occur:

1 – You will find that lots of applicants point to the same solution, so you just got smarter about your project, which is a good thing in itself and you cleared up some doubt.

2 – You’ll find that its pretty easy to tell who has a clue and who doesn’t from how they write their responses and you’ll also get a pretty good inkling of how their written English is. 2-in-1.

job-screening-questions-upwork I will almost always include a question about salary expectations.

This is an important part of the screening. If your salary expectations don’t meet then they aren’t a candidate.

Personally I will rarely / never let the candidates know the salary we are willing to pay because frankly it is not relevant.

Either the price they WANT to be paid is within our budget or it is not. I don’t believe in haggling, I want everyone who works with us to be happy with their salary.

Oh and BTW – don’t trust the official hourly rate listed on peoples’ profiles. These are usually thumb in the air numbers that the freelancers are hoping to get, best to totally ignore this figure especially if the numbers don’t make sense.

upwork-profile-hourly-rate

Personally I include the questions BOTH in the job posting AND in the dedicated section Upwork provides for screening questions (its a bit hidden…)

Scroll down to the bottom of the Job Posting page and click on the “Freelancer Preferences” section, which will open up a whole host of options, including the section for screening questions.

Because I just know that you’re going to ask, what I normally do in this section is the following:

Anyone can find and apply to this job.
I usually leave the “Preferred Qualifications” section untouched (sometimes I might try English Level – Conversational, but usually if I need good English I will add this as a screening questions instead.)
And I request that a cover letter be included.

4. Don’t get tempted to jump on a skype conversation too early

A lot (most) freelancers will try and suck the unwary into skype conversations and then try to make the “sale”.

Don’t do it (unless you’re really new and its a novelty) because it is just a massive time suck.

Use the screening questions in the posting to filter candidates and then selectively contact ONLY the ones who you think could be great candidates after you have messaged back and forth and got a sense of them.

5. Test different things to see what works best

I kind of wrote about this above, but just put out lots of job posts and see what works best.

Is there a day of the week that brings in the most freelancers?

Are there certain categories that work better for this specific role?

Try adding different required skills in the skills section and see if that has any effect.

Lastly, if you have questions leave comments below so that I can improve this post.

The idea is that these are some “hacks” to get better applicants on Upwork and ultimately for you to be able to hire the best freelancers for your project.

Good Luck!