10x Your iPad Home Screen
Set the best environment to get stuff done
Your iPad home screen is an office in a sense. It’s the place you visit to get stuff done.
This sounds stupid, but the home screen is probably the biggest influence on your productivity.
To understand why, look at Atomic Habits by James Clear. A big chunk of the book is dedicated to the idea of setting your environment for the habits you want to build.
Many of these principles also apply to your iPad. Especially to your iPad’s homes screen.
Here’s how.
Apps
Which apps you have on your home screen dictate how you function.
If you put junk food in your body, you’re going to feel horrible and you won’t hit your goals.
If you put junk apps in your brain, you’re going to feel horrible and you won’t hit your goals.
Do not put distracting apps on your home screen if you want to get work done. This means:
Social media apps
Gaming apps
Messaging apps
News apps
even the Substack app
Anything that can trigger content consumption should be avoided.
Likewise, apps that will help you get stuff done should be easy. Make them appear on your first page. Make them appear multiple times if you need to.
Do whatever you can to make these apps as obvious as possible. If you do that, it is 10x easier to get work done.
Widgets
Same mentality for widgets. Don’t put junk front and center. Prioritize good apps.
Shortcuts
A similar mentality exists for Shortcuts as well.
Shortcuts are particularly powerful because they can execute workflows you want to get done.
Sometimes, for instance, I hate setting up my writing environment. It’s not like it’s an insurmountable task. Takes maybe a minute at the most.
What’s tough is crossing that initial bridge. Why should I take action to do that when I can just scroll?
That’s the problem we’re trying to solve. And to do that with Shortcuts, you should automate these mundane set up tasks you need to enter your workflow.
As James emphasizes throughout Atomic Habits–make good habits as easy as possible.
Focus Modes
Focus modes are awesome.
Notifications are the second-most distracting thing on my devices. Social media apps are number one btw.
Focus Modes let you block out both. A lot of people don’t know this–focus modes are not just for notifications.
You can actually use them to filter out which apps and widgets appear on your home screen. That makes them insanely powerful.
Imagine if you were able to instantly transform your office into a full gym. Or a quiet study lounge. Or a video game room when you need a break.
Focus modes let you do that digitally.
Wallpapers
I change my wallpaper once in a while. It feels like flushing a mental toilet.
It has 0 impact on my life. But it’s like January 1–it gives you hope for change.
Creating wallpapers is also super fun. Procreate is an easy buy, and one of my favorite apps out there. I’m not an artist and I love the app.
Final Thoughts
Thanks for reading!
Adi
PS - Check out Concepts. They are the GOAT notetaking app and are offering a free 30-day trial that you should check it out.