How to optimise your Mobile screen to maximise Productivity.

I spent some time and energy, playing around with app placements and widgets so you don't have to.

Feel free to copy whatever you like.

I am one of those people whose screen time is more than 10 hours every day. That's partially because I use my mobile for nearly everything from running a business to entertainment to learning to time pass and partially because I may be a phone addict. (Who is not in today's time?)

I noticed that when my screen was cluttered with different apps, it was a distraction and it affected my productivity a lot. Hence I decided to spend some time, energy, and gave a serious thought to how I want my mobile screens to look. It's been some time now, I have been using this framework for about 3 months now and trust me it's been a game changer.

Maybe this article will be of a little help to you. Maybe not. In any case I have tried to keep it short and crisp. Let's dive in.

Yes, I waited till 11:11 to take the screenshots ✨

This one's the Home screen and it includes:

• Clock for the time. Very important.
• Weather + Day/Date
• Five of my most used apps are in the Footer
• Two apps which again are very frequently used but didn't get a place in the Footer are placed on the Home screen.
• The Widget on the left is an Age calculator which showcases my age in years and days. Now of course I know how old I am, but looking at this multiple times a day really puts a perspective on how fleeting time is. Every couple of weeks the number changes from 32 to 32.1 to 32.2 and it motivates me to evaluate my "life goals/efforts I'm putting in for those goals" graph.
• The Widget on the right divides the day into four lines/quadrants which are further segmented into six blips each. It's a visually aesthetic and fresh way to visualise how fast the day's been going past and helps me pace myself in order to complete my tasks for the day, on time. Maybe a silly thing to have, but I found it really useful.
• Google Calendar Widget occupies a good chunk of the centre space. It helps me keep track of meetings, Birthdays, Anniversaries and Festivals (I'm into a business where keeping a track of Festivals is kinda crucial)

I use an Android device and for the widgets I use a free version of NewThings Widgets Pro.

This is the next screen and it includes:

• Bunch of apps that I use the second most after those five in the Footer. These apps make up for at least 90% of my mobile usage. They're sorted neatly into relevant folders and folders are named appropriately.
• I work retail and this Calculator Widget gets the centre space since I use it at least a hundred times everyday.
• Screen Time and Step counter widget since I like keeping track of these two things and work actively on reducing one and increasing the other.
• Sheets Widget opens up the Invoice template on my Google Sheets app. It's a shortcut I use a couple of times everyday and has saved me a ton of time by now.

This is the next screen and it includes:

• Google Translate Widget occupies the centre space because I deal with a lot of foreigners in my business and this comes in really handy.
• Five more apps which I use nearly everyday and they're important enough to have a space of their own and not get sorted in any folder. (Noteworthy, everywhere I have placed the apps Right-to-Left in order of priority/importance because I'm a righty and use my right thumb the most to navigate. )
• A stock tracker Widget which keeps track of a single trading stock of my choice and refreshes every 5 minutes when the market is open because I like selecting a publicly listed company and keeping track of its stock movement for weeks (and cross-checking against my predictions) before finally investing into it long term.

A useful tip: Replace your Social Media scrolling with Pinterest, especially if you are a creative person. Trust me, you'll get so many new ideas.

This is the next screen and it includes:

• A monthly To-do Widget which I find more useful than a daily task planner. These are listed as per priority order and I keep adding new tasks and remove whatever's been done. A weird habit I've picked up is that I tend to keep the list <10 at all times because otherwise it makes me feel overwhelmed.
• A Fun-fact Widget that updates every day with a new fun fact. Not crucial but 10/10 would highly recommend.
• Two Photo Widgets which are shortcuts to different apps. The food photo above opens Swiggy (Food delivery app) and the Product photo below opens up Photoroom (an image editing app I usually use). I know I could have just used the app icons for this but a Photo Widget looks more visually pleasing.

This here is an Art & Culture Widget by Google and it is like a live art gallery on my screen with a new painting/art every 24 hours. I have learnt about so many old Masters of Renaissance, art styles, Sculptors via this widget. A part of my everyday morning routine is to spend 10 minutes looking at that day's art and reading about it.

Tip: Sometimes it showcases a painting which contains Nudity. If you resize the Widget, it changes the art being showcased.

This one is a static Photo frame widget with just one image. In this case, my workout routine. Earlier it used to showcase my payment QR Code and that was mighty useful for accepting payments at my POS.

Lastly, this is the last slide on my Home Screen and it houses every new app I install. This is the Trial zone for the app where it stays for a month. If I use it regularly and want to keep it, the app goes into one of the folders or gets a Widget. If I do not like the app and it's not useful, it gets uninstalled and makes space for a new one. With a wide and varied range of interests, I'm constantly switching between new apps to try out.

I spent close to an hour organising the slides on my home screen and deciding which apps and widgets go where and the return of investment on that time spent has been monumental.

It's been more than 3 months now and I can tell you it's very effective. Maybe it has to do with the fact that, since now my screen is decluttered and organised nicely, it emanates a nice positive energy, which keeps me fresh and makes me more effective and productive.

Till next time, Sayonara.