Welcome to Doug’s Newsletter. Every Thursday, I share one tip for reclaiming the freedom of your time.

Today’s Setlist

🎩 One Tip → My Most Valuable App: One Sec

😄 Funny Business → It’s gonna be close

📊 Community Poll → Bye week

🎩 One Tip: My Most Valuable App — One Sec

Last week we dove into Do Not Disturb mode, setting up our phone to help us block outside distractions. But what happens when we are the ones creating the distractions?

Today, let's talk about an app that's a game-changer: One Sec.

Distracting apps made less appealing – scientifically. That’s the headline on One Sec’s website, and it hits the nail on the head.

The apps we use are addicting by design. They have been engineered to get us to spend more time on them than we want to or realize. I've lost count of how many times I've thought, "I have more willpower than an app; I'll just know when to stop," and ended up 30 minutes deep in my Instagram feed.

They—engineers and robots—know my habits. They know how to exploit them. They are stronger than I am…

That is, they were. Until I built my One Sec shield.

1. The premise of One Sec is simple: when you open an app you know is addicting, just take a deep breath. Then, you’ll either:
   1) Not open it, realizing it was just an impulse
   2) Open it with the confidence and awareness that you’re in control
   3) Hold your breath until the stupid breath pause goes away

#3 is rare.

Here’s a breakdown of why and how I’ve used it for Chrome and Instagram.

Chrome

Why: I like to google everything I’m curious about. This often leads down a long rabbit hole that — while interesting — is not how I intended to spend my time. (These rabbit holes are better saved for the planned time I make to explore my curiosities freely on weekday mornings, a time I will share more on in the future called “Get Learnt”)

How: When my habit-driven mind opens Chrome and I'm forced to take a deep breath, I realize… Do I REALLY need to know what other movies J.K. Simmons is in? I hope not. If it’s truly an important query, I can jot it down or trust I’ll remember it again later.

Instagram

Why: Same as everyone. I love funny memes. Too much.

How: I can set a timer for how much time I want to spend scrolling my feed, thanks to a new One Sec feature. After 5 minutes I’m forced to take another deep breath. At that point, I rarely feel a need to enter the Instagram Colosseum for another round of battle.

Are you sold? Are you not? Either way, I’m gonna tell you how you can do it now.

♟️Your Turn: Setup One Sec

Step 1: Download One Sec (iOS or Android).

Step 2: Click here to follow One Sec’s 2-minute walkthrough and set up your first app.

Step 3: Repeat Step 2 for all the apps you want to protect yourself from!

I’ll also highlight 2 cool new features I find valuable. I don’t recommend tinkering with these until you’ve got protections set up from the steps above.

Feature 1: Intention Setting. You can have One Sec keep track of WHY you’re opening apps, making it much easier to catch yourself when intention turns into distraction. This couples well with Feature 2…

Feature 2: Re-intervention. As I talked about with my Instagram setup, you can have One Sec keep track of HOW LONG you need apps, and it will re-intervene after that period.

😄 Funny Business

📊 Community Poll

I’m traveling in Peru this week, so the poll is taking a bye week. I’ll share the results from last week’s question next week. Still time to answer if you haven’t yet:

How I Can Help

Whenever you’re ready, here are 2 ways for us to work together:

1. Grab time with me for a 1:1 session on community, consumer-driven research, or anything else.

2. Join me at a 4-hour retreat.

When you arise in the morning think of what a privilege it is to be alive, to think, to enjoy, to love…