Life is busy. I work from my home, and there's always something going on. Especially in summer when the kids are home. Tuning out the daily happenings of life while I process photos, write books, or plan photo workshops is important. There are times I need focus.

Visual or personal interrupts typically aren't a problem. My family is very supportive of my photography. When I'm working in the studio, I'm left alone. My kids call it my "photo cave". I have my desk and computer surrounded by a "wall" of moving blankets. They help dampen sound when I'm recording videos... and as it turns out make a cave.

Auditory and digital interrupts are the problems. Digital ones I can control. I close all the browser tabs for social media sites. I close email. I turn off desktop notifications for incoming messages or other notifications. What's left is the ambient noise in the house. Headphones (AirPods in my case) are a must. However, I can't listen to music with lyrics - the words are too distracting. Actually, I find anything with a predictable beat or melody too engaging. It pulls my mind away from the photo I'm working on or the piece I'm writing.

My solution? The Sleeping Dragon app. It's a random tonal generator that, for me, quickly fades to the background as I work. And it fills my ears with slow, steady sounds. The kind that don't jolt the mind and pull attention away from what you're working on. And it's completely free, for both Mac and Windows.

If you need something to help you tune out the world, Sleeping Dragon might be for you. For more ambient tonal generators, also check out the MyNoise website. I gravitate toward the desktop app. If I open a browser, I might fall down the internet rabbit hole and lose hours.

If you have any tips or tricks you use to stay focused, leave them in the comments below. I'm all ears (unless I'm tuning in to Sleeping Dragon :).