hello and welcome back to the bliss bean i have now had this little guy for about a month i was
pretty hesitant to purchase it because i saw a lot of people saying like what can you do with
an apple watch that you can't already do with an iphone but after getting it i realize the question
is what distractions of the iphone are missing from the apple watch i use my watch basically
as a simplified phone to the point where i now constantly have to use the pinging feature to
find my actual phone because i lose it around my house all the time because i just don't use
it much anymore so i got the gold 40 millimeter apple watch se gps with a pink sports band i'm
really glad i didn't get the bigger screen size i went and i tried on both of them at the store
and the bigger one felt like having a phone on my wrist whereas this one feels like an
actual watch i also didn't get the cellular connectivity because you have to pay like 10
a month for that and the only scenario i could think of where i would really find that useful
is if i went on a run and didn't want to bring my phone but considering i go on maybe maximum
four runs per month if there's good weather i just didn't find it to be worth it the battery life
is okay for me i feel like it could be better i wear it while i sleep so i have to find
time during the day to charge it usually i charge it during breakfast so for example this morning
i was able to charge it for 30 minutes and get 40 out of that sometimes it's enough to get me
through the day but usually not so also take it off while i'm working or doing some sort of other
sitting activity because i do not want to miss any opportunity to fill up my activity rings which
conveniently brings us to the first thing that i really like about the apple watch which is that
it has definitely motivated me to stay more active because it's always tracking and every little bit
of exercise counts it has made me view movement as something that can happen throughout the day
rather than just in one formal workout session i like the reminders to stand up and move throughout
the day i like seeing my heart rate because it gives me like a quantitative measure of how
hard i'm working which makes me want to do better and i just feel very very accomplished when i get
that sparkly notification that says i filled up my ring another thing i love that is also in the vein
of health features is being able to track my sleep it's been interesting to be able to see a graph of
my sleep cycles to better understand when i should be waking up to feel less drowsy it motivates me
to go to bed earlier because i don't want to rack up a sleep debt and it also just makes me think
more about the quality of my sleep rather than just the quantity although sometimes the activity
tracking gets in the way of the sleep quality because one time i was like four percent away from
reaching my move goal but i was about to go to bed so i was literally in my room just jumping around
and doing jumping jacks and punching the air and i got to my goal but then i tried to go to sleep
and i couldn't fall asleep and when i finally did i woke up like five times throughout that night so
i would not recommend doing that and finally and most importantly i really like the apple
watch because it has largely replaced my phone so i use a variety of different apps throughout
the day like a time tracking app a habit tracking app a to-do list app i like setting timers playing
music on my speaker and none of these are distracting apps in themselves but they force
me to pick up my phone and my phone has plenty of other distractions on it like instagram or safari
even if i managed to not give in to the temptation i feel the temptation and fighting it is tiring
with my watch i have on my wrist the most basic versions of all of these necessary apps i could
mark a habit as done check my to-do list switch activities on my time tracker ask siri to start a
timer instagram and safari simply do not exist on here and using such a tiny screen is an unpleasant
enough experience that i do only what i need to do i'm in and then i'm out so without my phone
say i'm sitting in the living room and i feel the urge to scroll but my phone is upstairs and there
is literally nothing entertaining on my watch i can memorize the weather forecast i can see what
time it is in london but that is pretty much the extent of the fun that i can have on this thing
however getting your watch to this point where it is not a distraction takes some time
but don't worry i'm here to help you i spent hours and hours with my watch when i first got it
because there was just so much to learn but once i got over the hump of that initial learning curve
i was all set to go so here are five things to consider when you are setting up your apple watch
i didn't even realize before i got the watch that you could have multiple watch faces
and that they were so customizable so watch faces are basically like the pages of your
home screen on your phone and complications or like little widgets shortcuts or bits of
information that you can have on them you should definitely take some time to learn
what complications are available for your apps and think about how to best arrange them
you can try having watch faces for different contexts for example so i
have a main one that's like my default watch face that shows me the date and the weather
and then the next one over is like a work watch base where i have my to-do list and time tracking
so i think the biggest danger of having a device on your wrist is that if you don't manage your
notifications it can distract you even more powerfully than your phone and be constantly
buzzing your wrist all day long i think there's a sweet spot for notifications if there's too many
you'll constantly be distracted but if there's not enough then you'll have to manually check for
report information that you're waiting on which is also distracting so for example a lot of my text
messages are muted except the ones from my family in case there's an emergency or if i'm waiting on
some time sensitive information from someone for emails i only get notifications from vip contacts
and i designate vips again when i'm waiting for time-sensitive information from someone and then
once i get that their vip status is revoked i also really like using both the theater mode
and the do not disturb modes so theater mode keeps the screen dark and disables rays to wake
and then do not disturb silences all of your notifications both are lovely and fantastic to
use by default your watch will mirror the settings of your iphone and if you're on your phone you'll
get the notification on your phone if not you'll get it on your watch but not in both places
when i first got my watch i discovered the world of shortcuts and got lost in the depths of the r
shortcut subreddit so this little app allows you to program little shortcuts and automations for
your devices so anytime you notice any friction in how you use your phone or your apple watch like
maybe you put on the same morning playlist every time your alarm rings and you start thinking gosh
i go through the same exact motions every morning there has got to be a way i could automate this
or you always search for directions home at the same exact time every single weekday you
can likely design a shortcut for that or find someone online who has programmed one
so for example i have a very simple shortcut under the name log water that adds one bottle
of water to my habit count as well as 500 milliliters of water to my health app so
instead of going to those apps separately all i have to do is press the crown and say log water
that's done i think one key aspect of any good productivity system is you need a way to keep
track of everything that pops into your head because the more you're trying to juggle in your
brain the less room you'll have for more important things and the more stressed out you will be
you need a method that is as simple and as quick as possible for tracking to do's ideas stuff that
you need to tell people anything for me carrying around a notebook and a pen for this was just not
really feasible and i also hated going to my phone for this because i was trying to use my phone less
so on my apple watch i have a complication for the things 3 app that takes me straight
to adding something to my inbox and then i process everything at the end of the day and
i either decide nope that was actually a stupid idea or yes i actually need to
add that as a to-do or file away that bit of information somewhere
finally you should definitely make use of the mindfulness features on your apple watch
there's something kind of incongruent about your phone reminding you to take a mindfulness break
because for you to see that notification you have to be near your phone and most of us are trying to
detach ourselves from our devices with the apple watch it feels a lot more personal so one of my
favorite apps is the i am affirmations app i get 15 affirmations delivered straight to my wrist
every day so i don't have to pick up my phone when i hear a notification i just get one of
those little taps on my wrist lift it read it get inspired soak it in and move on with my day
alright so now i'm going to give you a tour of my watch faces so as i said the first one is my main
watch face this is where i can see what time it is what day it is i can tap on the weather to get
a more detailed weather forecast and then at the bottom i have three apps this one in the middle
is my habit tracker the one on the right is this app called i think juice watch or juice battery or
something this is just a handy way to see how much battery i have both on my watch and on my phone
and then this first one is for the revere app which i told you about in my phone tour this is
like for keeping track of personal contact so like friends birthdays or gift ideas or stuff like that
the second watch face is my work mode so i have a big clock and then in the top left
is a timer i can see how much time is left on the timer or click on it to start a new timer
below that is my things three inbox that i already mentioned and then at the bottom is my time
tracking app my third watch face is like my health one so i have my activity rings in the middle
at the bottom is a shortcut for my sleep tracking app and i think what this tells me is how many
hours i slept last night and then the quality of the sleep although i'm not sure why it is
a hundred percent i don't think i slept that well up in the top left is the heart rate app and then
on the top right is my shortcut for logging water and then my last watch face is the one i'm most
proud of so you can create a watch face that is a gallery of photos so i have an album just for
photos of bts and then i can cycle through that and get a little bit of joy in my day i actually
use the remote camera feature quite a lot it is very helpful for taking those self-absorbed
blogger photos but other than that i rarely go to this app screen i mainly just stay on my watch
faces so in digital minimalism by cal newport he talks about how we often only think about the
benefits of some shiny new toy that we want to get and not the costs that are associated with
it so if you're thinking about getting an apple watch don't just think about the cool features
that you'll get like the walkie-talkie or the automatic hand washing timer which in my opinion
barely ever works what will you have to sacrifice in order to bring this into your life money time
attention for me in my situation the apple watch was a way to simplify my life and use my phone
less but you have to decide how it'll affect your life so thank you so much for watching this video
if you have an apple watch and you want to share with me how you set up your watch faces and your
complications send me something to my email or to instagram and i want to do like a little
showcase of how people have set up their watches on my stories other than that i hope you found the
video helpful please give it a like and subscribe to my channel and i will see you next week bye