Building an attention-proof day

A good system is one that works when you are tired, unmotivated and slightly annoyed at yourself. Anything that requires you to be at your best is decoration.

> The first and last hour

The first hour of the day sets your baseline reactivity and the last hour sets your sleep. These two hours are worth more than all the others combined, and they are the two most commonly given away. Lock the phone across both. Not reduced. Locked.

> Rank your interventions by discipline cost

• ▪Zero discipline: phone charges in another room overnight. Buy a cheap alarm clock.
• ▪Zero discipline: scheduled locks that turn on without you doing anything.
• ▪Low discipline: grayscale display and every non-human notification off.
• ▪Medium discipline: no phone at the table, in the bathroom, or on walks.
• ▪High discipline: 'I'll just check quickly.' Never build a system that depends on this.

If a routine only holds on your good days, it is not a routine. It is a mood you are hoping to repeat.

> Give the time somewhere to go

People who reclaim three hours a day and have no plan for them do not feel free. They feel restless, and restlessness reinstalls the app. Decide in advance what those hours are for — a project, a body, a person, an instrument, a long walk with no destination. The plan can be mediocre. It just has to exist before the time appears.

> Measure elapsed lock time, not willpower

Verified hours locked is a clean, honest number. Number of times you resisted an urge is not measurable and encourages you to hover near the trigger to score points. Count the boring metric.