Slash: The Ultimate Productivity Tool For Deep Work

I discovered Slash List in November on Product Hunt and the tagline instantly caught my eye: “a productivity machine that forces you to do tasks 1-by-1” because it sounded like an ideal tool for deep work.

I’m always experimenting with new ways to improve my workflow so I can block out distractions and get in a state of flow so I instantly installed the app for my Mac. That was just over a month ago and I’ve been using it regularly since.

By forcing you to do one task at a time, Slash List encourages deep work where you have a single-minded focus on individual tasks and the app’s interface makes it easy to seamlessly flow through your prioritized list of daily tasks.

How Deep Work Makes You Way More Productive

If you want to see how Slash facilitates deep work and can help improve your productivity and workflow, here’s a quick overview of the Mac app:

This simple productivity helps you to create a digital environment where you can eliminate the twin productivity killers that prevent most digital workers from getting into uninterrupted states of flow at work:

1. Multitasking:

When you are doing high-value, cognitively demanding work checking your email or social media is a huge productivity killer. Focusing on single-tasking helps you create a structure to eliminate all interruptions.

2. Context Switching

A busy mind loves the stimulation of switching contexts when work gets emotionally difficult but context switching has been shown to dramatically lower productivity and unnecessarily drain mental resources.

Here’s how Slash List facilitates deep work which I believe makes it an indispensable tool for those who want to achieve flow states at work:

1. Hyper Focus Mode

I love the way they’ve designed the UX for the Hyper Focus mode. There’s an optional current task reminder that stays pinned to your screen or in the top menu bar so you know exactly where to put your focus.

There is also a handy counter that can be placed in the bottom right, which I find to be a helpful reminder on days when I’m feeling very distractable.

2. Task Prioritization

Slash makes task prioritization easy by allowing you to stack your tasks based on the urgency of your priorities using the Eisenhower Matrix. This way you can complete task after task without searching for what to do next.

Prioritization helps maintain your flow state and prevents context switching because you know exactly what to do next without analysis or deliberation. As Slash’s creators note on their website, having to manually choose your next task causes friction and wastes precious decision-making energy.

3. Flexible Flow Sessions

I’ve found that the typical 25-minute work session followed by a 5-minute break advocated by the popular Pomodoro Method has never worked very well for me.

I prefer 90-minute Flow Sessions of uninterrupted focus and what I like about Slash is it make it easy to customize the length of my Flow Sessions.

4. Productivity Analytics

Even with their initial launch version they’ve pulled off beautifully designed and helpful productivity analytics and time tracking.

You can track your hours spent each day in interrupted states of deep work and flow, maintain productivity streaks and see your time spent on different tasks and projects over time.

5. Global Shortcuts

I also like how it is easy to use global shortcuts to add tasks that come up from any app without interrupting your flow. This can be a huge time saver.

I’m a big fan of streamlining my workflow using shortcuts so this is great and they make it a breeze to use.

Try It Out For Yourself

Slash List is currently based on a freemium model where your first 50 tasks each month are free then they are planning to charge $3.75/month for unlimited tasks.

Kudos to the team at Slash List for making an indispensable productivity tool for deep work and innovating in the to-do list space.

You can download Slash List for Mac OS. A Windows and Linux version is coming soon.