I don’t know about you, but it seems like I have a new notification on my smartphone every other second: email, text message, phone call, app notification…the information overload can be intense at times. You can feel tempted to look at every notification, answer every text, and before you know it, you’ve spent the bulk of your time on your phone and you have barely accomplished anything you meant to.
So many of us multitask all day between using our phones and doing other work. However, when you dilute your efforts you basically are reducing concentration and jeopardizing the results you want from all things.
Don’t misunderstand me. I love my phone. It’s barely out of my reach every hour of the day. It’s how I do most of my work. It’s how I stay connected and on top of my social media. It’s how I learn and stay up to date with everything happening in my industry. It really is the most useful tool I own.
However, there are times when we all just have to put our phones down for a while. When I have a task I want to accomplish that does not require me to use my phone, I put it down and I specifically set my mind on a “no-phone zone” until I complete my task.
Sometimes ignoring your phone does not come easy. We’ve all been programmed to react almost instantly when we hear that ding, ring, or bling, but it’s time to reprogram ourselves. Thankfully, most newer phones have “do not disturb” features (there are also many apps you can download that do this too), where you can set your phone to be on silent for a certain amount of time, but still allow calls/texts from contacts you mark as important.
In today’s modern world of information overload, it truly is necessary to unplug for a bit. I dare you to try this exercise even for just half an hour today while you work on a project and see just how much more productive you are.
Live Life,
Bert Oliva
QUOTE THIS: “You can do two things at once, but you can’t focus effectively on two things at once.” ― Gary Keller