· When I travel around and work with leaders and employees on conflict and other subjects, I always am amazed at how many heads are down into their phones. This may be even worse as many of us have been saturated in all things digital for 7 straight weeks. At a recent training, several people had them working at one time. It seems we are losing our patience for things that we can’t control or manipulate...understanding the power, evils and symbolism of the remote control...that’s for a different day.
When leading teams and projects life moves quickly. In a depressed economy, respondability and the often “required” fast paced world of calls, (remember Nextel chirps) emails, text messages, Skype, Facebook, Twitter and more, it almost seems as though we are being devoured by digital tsunami that will change our culture forever; I’m convinced that our unabashed curiosity, innovation, and evolution of the digital world will eventually bind us. So before letting this digital, time vampire drive the bus, consider how to reduce connectivity when possible.
Turn airplane mode on for a while so nothing can come in, emails, texts or phone calls.
Waking up in the middle of the night to answer emails that can wait until the morning…manage expectations accordingly. Keep these devices away from our head when sleeping too; supposedly the radiation isn’t good for us.
Pavlov’s Dog – the unfortunate retraining of ourselves to flinch or respond when we hear the ping of an email…usually leading to a quick response – lengthen the amount of time (slightly) it takes for your email to check for incoming mail.
Take the Bluetooth earpiece off your skull when in meetings and other times when calls will go unanswered; you may appear to some as part cyborg and/or ready to disengage at any moment.
If you are on vacation do not keep pulling it out, your companions will get bothered quickly.
Turn it off in meetings and trainings…you are note present and people know it.
Enjoy taking email breaks; leave the phone in the desk/car for 30 minutes…you’d be surprised how good it feels to get a “digital time out.”
Save and Sync often so you are not always trying to remember what is supposed to be on your calendar.
Ask a friend, spouse or your kids if you are using the phone and/or digital devices too much. They will let you know if they think detaching a little more is a good plan. Remember to consider the source, you might be talking to someone that needs a break from it as well.
Leave it behind – next time you go on a family event, to a soccer game or other activity, just don’t bring it. It feels great to leave it in the car when you go into a store.
Disconnecting from the digital stim is difficult right now for most people. If you can reduce it five minutes a day, you are kicking butt and off to the races!
Much love!
Dave
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