Are you, like most of us, attached to your phone? Do you constantly check your messages even when you don’t need to? Are you constantly distracted by notifications for FaceBook, emails, texts, WhatsApp, FaceBook messenger, Skype? Do you grab for your phone in a restaurant or cafe when the other person momentarily leaves you on your own?
Sometimes there’s barely a minute that goes by without our phones distracting us.
Recently, I started getting completely overwhelmed with receiving messages via loads of different apps. If I didn’t have time to respond straight away I’d then spend ages trying to find the message they’d sent me because I couldn’t remember how they’d contacted me! It was really frustrating and I realised how much time I was wasting!
Now, I allocated time to respond to certain messages and work my way through them slowly. It’s made my life so much easier. And less stressful, because I don’t feel I need to respond immediately!
Also, were you aware that every time you are distracted from what you are doing, it can take you up to 15 minutes to get back into the flow of what you were doing? Yes 15 minutes! So the next time your phone vibrates with an alert, and your attention is drawn away from what you are doing, you just lost yourself some very precious minutes.
Can you imagine what you might get done now you know this?! We can stop being constantly pulled in lots of directions with these distractions, we can feel calmer, and we can feel more in control and ultimately be more productive. We become more in tune with what we are doing and allow ourselves to be more in the present moment.
Here are 4 more tips to help:
1. Turn off all your notifications. Go into each of your apps and turn off all the notifications. Or at least turn off the sound and vibrate, so that you’re attention is not drawn to your phone every time you get one.
2. Allocate time to turn off your phone completely. Next time you have a something important to get done, or have a deadline to meet turn off your phone completely or pop it onto airplane mode for 30 minutes. Close emails on your laptop too. You can get back to people when you are done. This way your task will get your full attention and you’ll get it done much quicker, I promise!
3. Be comfortable in moments when you are on your own. We are no longer comfortable to sit on our own for short periods. Be that on the bus, walking or in a cafe. Next time you’re in this situation, avoid the phone for 5 minutes, and know that you’re ok in your own company for a short time. Notice what’s going on around you and what you might be missing had you been distracted by technology.
4. Don’t sleep with your phone! When you go to bed leave the phone in another room. The temptation to check it is great, even when you wake momentarily in the night to check the time. Even if you think the vibration doesn’t wake you up it does interrupt the quality of your sleep. Treat yourself to an alarm clock 🙂
Try one of these out today, and see if you get more done, or sleep better! I’m curious to know. It’s got to be worth a try, hasn’t it?
Remember: Start small… you don’t have to turn your phone off for the whole day! If 30 minutes seems too much, just try out 10 minutes where you are completely focused on the task in hand.
Much love
Natasha x