Computers are troves of distractions. With a deadline bellowing warm, coffee-infused breath down your neck, all it takes is a notification or bouncing Dock icon to send you careering off track into a chasm of procrastination. Thankfully, there are plenty of tools built into macOS to help you block out the outside world and remain focused on your work.
In fact, ‘focus’ is a big deal to Apple at the moment, and the company is constantly introducing new features in its operating systems to help you block distractions and keep your mind trained on the task at hand. One such addition is Stage Manager, macOS Ventura’s marquee feature that has been purpose built to organise your apps and windows so that you can concentrate on your work and still see everything in a single glance. Then there are tools such as Focus and Mission Control which, although have been around in macOS for a while, have evolved to offer many benefits for blocking out the outside world and avoiding distractions.
Over the following pages we’ll help you master these features so that you can get instantly ‘in the zone’ as soon as your working day begins.
Quick ways to get in the zone
We will cover the most potent tools in Apple’s arsenal of Mac focus-aiding apps over the following pages, but for starters here are four useful pointers for getting into the right mindset.
1 Create separate users Consider creating separate user accounts for personal and work purposes to help you compartmentalise personal and work accounts in certain apps. Go to System Settings>Users & Groups and then click ‘Add Account’ to create one. You should then go to
