“How on earth can you work like this?”
My friend Cole was pretty horrified when he looked at my desktop.
It’s not like it was that bad. (It’s more because Cole is a bit of a productivity freak.) But yeah, it was messy. I had several apps opened, one on top of another. It looked cluttered and it was honestly distracting. It needed a fix.
So I was introduced to the magic of multiple desktops.
Yes, I might be very late to this party, but it has helped so much I wanted to share it with you. It’s very simple. On you Macbook trackpad, you just have to swipe up using four fingers. On the top, you’ll see your desktops. I decided to have one for each app I use all the time (Safari, Slack, Todoist, Evernote, and Messages). These are the apps that never get closed. Each app is on full screen on its own desktop. Nothing hidden on the back, nothing distracting me on the sides.
I also added two desktops at the very right and left, with nothing on them. Desktop 1 is always cleared, so I can swipe up, tap on it, and have an instantly empty screen. The last desktop is for Finder and those apps I use on split screen or that only get a few minutes of use through the day.
This has really improved how I work and focus.
At first I was slightly anxious because I couldn’t see my bubble notifications on each app (nor anything around where I was working, for that matter). But I am slowly getting over the “fridge effect” the apps have on me. You know, when you open your fridge every 10 minutes hoping something new is there but —of course— nothing every is. I have plenty of alerts for when something really important comes up.
If you are a PC user, here are the instructions on how to set up multiple desktops.
How do you keep your productivity up when you are on your computer? I’d love to know!
Let us know in the comments below.
[Image by Ann Casas, vía Juan 1:16]
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