Summer is nearly here! It’s that time for outdoors, fun, and sun. All these things boost your productivity—so GO OUTSIDE! Make sure you’re scheduling that time first, so that you have sunshine and breaks to enjoy all that’s coming.
Last newsletter, I talked about taking “snack” breaks and what a “snack” might consist of. If you missed it, check it out HERE on my blog!
Since I last wrote, I ran my virtual three-day event, which was AMAZING, and is changing people’s businesses already! If you couldn’t be there, consider coming to Colorado this fall for my LIVE Results Unleashed event—September 30-October 2.
I have also been doing a lot of writing to see what might come up that I’d like to share with you. One of the top things that keeps coming up for me is the fact that our phones and our habits around our phones have MADE US DISTRACTIBLE! Think about the time before you had a smartphone (usually before the early 2010s). You had more time and were more focused. The truth is, we have LEARNED to be distractible. Many, many entrepreneurs over the last 10 years have told me that they’ve never been diagnosed but are sure they have ADHD. This may be true, but in my opinion, we have learned not to be focused. We’ve let our phones, social media, and other tech steal our ability to focus and have given us an excuse to be distracted.
Research from Harvard shows that the closer your phone is to you, the less focused you will be. You can try it on yourself! Their study (and others along with it) shows that if your phone is turned over, you’re less distracted. If it’s across the room, even more focused, in another room, you’re now on your way to productivity!
Studies also show that our phones are not only decreasing our ability to sustain focus, but are also decreasing our mood because our dopamine is being reduced by the hits we get from the phone. Think about the rise you get from knowing you got a text, looking at Instagram reels, getting an email you have been waiting for. All these things give us dopamine hits, which then cause our mood to decrease when they aren’t present. The lift you’re getting from your phone is not a “natural” high—it’s manufactured, which makes feeling elevated difficult to sustain on our own. Phones are an addiction.
So, what to do? I know you KNOW what to do, but you’re not doing it. So, here are my thoughts.
3 Simple Ways to Break the Phone Habit and Stay Focused
☎️ Work with your phone in a different room for 30 to 45 minutes at a time.
☎️ Have a designated time each day to NOT have your phone on, or with you (you choose). During these times, find those natural bits of joy!
☎️ Limit your time on social media, email, games, and all things that take you down rabbit holes. SET A TIMER. Allow yourself no more than 15-20 minutes at any given time and then put it down.
I have so many more thoughts on this subject, but I don’t want to give you more than you can take at once! Try one or two (or all three!) of these things to see if you can start breaking that phone addiction. Let me know how it goes! You might also check out my 5 Tips to Stay Focused three-part video series HERE.
If you’d like to know more about what that phone is doing to us, check out this article.