The obvious reason for owning a distraction blocking app is well…blocking distractions.
But using Freedom has a lot more benefits than just being able to block apps and programs that keep getting in your way.
And those benefits probably go a lot deeper than you might have suspected.
Better Mental Health
When people talk about distraction blockers most of the focus is placed on how much they can increase productivity.
And they do, so this is entirely true.
But a better-than-fringe benefit of using an app like Freedom is that you’re giving yourself a very deliberate break from social media sites.
A 2018 study found that limiting social media use to just 30 minutes per day can lead to a dramatic improvement in your wellbeing.
Or in plain English – you won’t feed as stressed or as anxious as you do right now.
Humans are not designed to be connected to an endless network of other human beings all the time. In fact, our maximum ideal social circle is about 150 people.
This aspect of the Freedom distraction and app blocker is one of my personal favourites because it helped me recognize how addicted I was to certain social media sites.
And that addiction was ruining my productivity.
Do Deep Work
The idea of deep work, as the name suggests, is that you spend a specific amount of time focusing solely on one task.
This is something I learned about from Cal Newport in his book Deep Work.
Deep work is basically where you achieve a “flow state” and can achieve more in 2 hours than you do in an entire day.
But only if you can eliminate all other distractions, including programs on your computer and apps on your phone.
Using the Freedom app is my preferred way of getting deep work done because I can shut off access to everything from my desktop email program to dozens of distracting websites with a single click.
Increased Productivity
This follows on neatly from the idea of deep work.
Because even if you never once achieve “flow state” or become a deep work guru, I can absolutely promise you that your productivity will almost immediately increase once you start using Freedom.
And this is for no other reason than you won’t be able to have a quick look at something on YouTube or check for DMs on your social media app of choice because you’ve blocked them all.
But what’s going to absolutely horrify you is how many times you try to visit YouTube or Facebook/Instagram/Twitter/other social media sites.
Without Freedom
- I complete a piece of work
- I decide to “treat myself” to a few minutes on YouTube, etc
- 2 hours later I’m still on YouTube
- It’s now 4pm and it’s “too late” to start anything new right now
- Rinse and repeat the next day
With Freedom
- I complete a piece of work
- I decide to “treat myself” to a few minutes on YouTube, etc
- Freedom shows me this:
4. I smile to myself and get back to work.
5. About 30 minutes later I repeat steps 1 – 4 again.
Blocking access to specific websites and apps, means you can enjoy distraction-free work sessions.
And engage in deep work that will positively change your own life and the lives of people you work for, or care about.
Or both.
Better Time Management
If you’ve ever said “There aren’t enough hours in the day” I can assure you that there are. The problem is that you’re quite literally wasting many of the hours you have available to you.
A guy I know has 7 kids, works a full-time job, and finds time to run a side hustle business, so if he can find enough hours in the day you can too.
So it’s a time management issue and not a lack of time issue that you’re dealing with.
But again, only if you eliminate all the distractions that stop you from studying, reading, learning or just doing the job you’re being paid for.
You can manually start a Freedom session or even schedule them to happen on specific days at specific times:
Freedom allows you to automate your time management and distraction blocking, so you don’t have to remember to do it yourself.
And in time this scheduling will become part of your day – you’ll have better work and study habits without noticing.
You can check out my full review of Freedom here.
Or you can get started with Freedom right now instead.