Freedom From Distraction

Chatty colleagues and social media disrupting your workflow? Sean Greenhalgh faced the same problem at his previous job as a product manager in Sydney. “I did my best work after everybody left, and that was utterly unsustainable,” he says. The experience prompted him to dig into a time-management method he had read about and combine it with his expertise in technology. The result: TimeChi. With the click of a button, this mouse-size desk gadget ($129) enables a do-not-disturb feature on your devices and apps. Should a colleague wander over to visit you at your desk, the TimeChi displays a light to let them know, politely, that you are trying to focus. “It acts like a traffic light,” says Greenhalgh, whose goal is to help people increase their productivity and prevent burnout—something more than half of U.S. workers say they experienced in 2021. —Abhishyant Kidangoor

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