Dru's Notes

Unlocking your phone by face is instant. A passcode adds a few seconds of friction where you decide whether to keep going.

Show Notes

Unlocking your phone by face is instant. A passcode adds a few seconds of friction where you decide whether to keep going.

Featuring: W. Clement Stone

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Chapters:

(00:00) The Passcode Friction
(00:27) Red Light Mode and Sleep
(00:44) Dual App Blockers and Downtime
(01:16) Batching Meetings for Deep Work
(01:21) Deciding Once in Advance

Where to find Dru:

Essays: https://druriley.com/
X: https://x.com/DruRly
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@dru-notes
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/drus-notes/id1888795427
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3lFHqgKxuvEHmdiEUfYShG

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Creators and Guests

WS
Guest
W. Clement Stone
Featured in Dru's Notes: Why I Turn My Phone Screen Red at 9pm.

What is Dru's Notes?

One mental model each day in a few minutes. Habits, business, building products and thinking clearly. From Dru Riley, founder of Trends.vc.

"Big doors swing on little hinges."
W. Clement Stone

I turned off face recognition on my phone.

Unlocking by face is instant. I can be scrolling before I've consciously decided to pick the phone up.

A passcode adds a few seconds of friction. In those seconds I decide whether to keep going. Sometimes I type the first digit, notice I had no reason to pick it up and put it back down.

The passcode was the first.

- Red light mode. The display turns red on a schedule each evening. A red screen is ugly to scroll and better for sleep than blue or white light. That is the feature.

- No notifications. Uptime alerts break through. Everything else stays silent until I swipe down to check.

- App blockers, stacked. The first app forces a deep breath before opening. The second adds a delay and a daily limit on top. One blocker can be dismissed on a weak night, so two run together.

- Computer downtime at 9pm. Scheduled Downtime locks apps each evening. When the limit screen appears, work is done for the night.

- White noise to bed. The same sound each night masks sudden noises nearby, so fewer of them wake me. The body learns the cue too.

- All meetings and email on Monday. That buys deep work for the rest of the week.

I made each of these decisions once.

Willpower runs out. A single rule made in advance protects the day.

What boundary could you put on autopilot?