When you are in a meeting or at a lunch with a client, you don’t really want to be focused on what your phone is doing. You should focus on what you need rather than wasting time playing on Facebook.

Here are a few Android applications to help you manage your distractions and be more productive.

1. Txt Msg Away Message Lite

One of the biggest distractions for many people is the amount of SMS messages they receive. Having an application that will notify someone that you are in the middle of something without you actually needing to pick up the phone and reply to them can save you a lot of time.

You can set up several different messages. I have one for driving, when i am at soccer practice and another that I am working and will get back to them on my next break.

2. Handy Profiles

Not all phones have profiles. This is something I really loved when I had a Blackberry. If you aren’t sure what a profile is, they are different settings for your notifications and other settings. What Handy Profiles does is let you set up different ringer modes, volumes, syncing options, wireless connections, forward and even filter calls.

One feature that is super cool is the option to have Handy Profile search your calendar for certain words. When it sees the word “work” or “meeting”, you can have it automatically change to a different profile for the duration of that calendar appointment. As you can see, you have a ton of options to configure what will work best for you when you need to concentrate on the task at hand.

3. Business Calendar

While the Google Calendar on most Android devices is adequate, there is always something out there that is a little better. Business calendar gives you more of the look you have on your web-based Google Calendar. You can see all of your appointments instead of a colored line slotting off the time.

To jump from month view to week view, just swipe your finger across the week you want to see. If you need to see more day, there is a slider across the bottom where you can add or subtract the amount of days showing up to 14 days and as little as one.

4. Taskos To Do List | Task List

A productivity article would not be any good without a to-do list app, right? Here is that app. What is nice about Taskos is how it uses more of the phone than other task management apps. What I mean is, to finish a task, you swipe your finger across the task. To clear all the completed tasks, you can shake the phone.

Aside from those two features, you can quickly add a task just by tapping on the microphone at the top. If you want to add more details, you can do that as well. The reason easy voice access is important, is that you are less likely to forget to add a task if you add the task right away after a phone call.

Are there Android applications you find increase your productivity or decrease distractions?

Image credit: underminingme

How many of you who never peek at your chat windows, check your mail inbox or keep your Facebook page open while you work? I’m sure the number is low – if any.

I personally think it’s OK to refresh your mind once in a while. The problem is sometimes we don’t have the luxury of spare time due to the deadlines, and yet most of the time our will power is not strong enough to resist the temptation.

We could use some help.

A little bit of Self Control

I found an app – with a scary icon – that can help me strengthen my will power. It’s called Self Control. This app does one simple thing: blocks access to incoming and/or outgoing mail servers and websites for a predetermined period of time.

For example, you could block access to your email, Facebook, and Twitter for 90 minutes, but still have access to the rest of the web. This selective blacklisting feature is very useful if you still have to do some research and post to your blog while eliminating other distracting sites.

Click the “Edit blacklist” button (or use Command + D) to add (+) or subtract (-) blacklisted sites. Please note that you have to type in the site address manually as the app won’t allow you to copy and paste. Another limitation is that you can’t add sub-folder address (something like www.apple.com/itunes/).

The import button is for you to add incoming and outgoing mail servers from Mail and Thunderbird.

Other settings are accessible through Preferences windows (Command + Comma)

After everything is set, you can click the “Start” button and have your distractive web gone for a while. But remember, once started, the process cannot be undone by the application or by restarting the computer – you must wait for the timer to run out.

Going to the extreme

In the extreme case where you absolutely must have no web distraction at all (I am still having difficulties imagining what case that would be), you can use Freedom to block all access to the net.

The appearance is simple. There’s a box where you type in the amount of minutes you want your network blocked – with the maximum of eight hours.

After clicking “OK”, the second window will appear giving you the option to cancel, limit access to local network or block all access (Normal Mode).

What make Freedom a little bit different from Self Control is that you can ‘cheat’ the process by doing a system reboot. It’s a bit of a hassle, but still do-able. Maybe this is the option to take if you accidentally start Freedom.

To me, these two apps are not really useful as most of my distractions are not from the net. But what about you? Do you find SelfControl and Freedom useful? Do you have other alternatives? Share your thoughts using the comment below.