Pause for a moment. Look around you right now.
What do you have right there within your reach that was designed to make life easier for you?
If you are like me, you have either a desk top, a lap top or net book computer. I know that you have one. Otherwise you would not be reading this post right now.
In addition you probably have a cell phone within reach. You may get a call at any time and you don’t want to miss it. After all it may be important.
Are They Making Your Life Easier?
Both the computer and the cell phone were designed to make our lives easier. We could have access to the world right at our finger tips. We could get our work done much more quickly. We would have more time to relax and do what we wanted.
Or do we?
Have your computer and your cell phone made your life easier? Are you relaxing more now than you had prior to back when you didn’t have either one?.
If you are like most people, I would say that most probably you are not. Your computer and your cell phone has filled your day. You are working much longer now than you ever did. The time you have to relax and unwind is probably far less now than it ever was.
Why Do I Say That?
Simply because most of us have allowed our computers and cell phones to control us.
We spend far more time on our computers than we should.
It starts with email. Most of us check our email far too frequently. We are regularly checking to see if we got messages. We frequently have more than one email account. We get an astronomical amount of emails daily. Most have little or no value. It takes time to delete them – time which we could have spent relaxing.
Then there are the social network sites – Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. We need to know what our friends are up to. If you are like me, you have added friends, including people we haven’t seen or spoken to in years and even some we don’t know. It takes time to wade through all of the updates – time which we could have spent relaxing.
Then there are our cell phones.
We get calls throughout the day. Even though most of us have caller ID and see who is calling, we answer every call any way. Even if we are in the midst of a major job, we answer a call. Even if that call is only a minute or less, it may take us 10 to 15 minutes to get back to what we were doing before the call came in. The job takes us much longer to do because of the interruption.
Many of us access emails through our cell phones. Here again we find ourselves checking our emails regularly rather than finishing what we are working on. We also waste time surfing the web on our cell phones.
Even in our car we can’t get away from incoming calls. Prior to having a cell phone that is one place where we could not be interrupted. Car time provided some of us the opportunity to unwind. Now even that space is not sacred. After all, when the phone rings we must answer it.
How do We Regain Control?
First we have to remember that our computers and our cell phones are there to make our lives easier. We need to look at our days and see how much time is being wasted when we are on our computers and cell phone unnecessarily.
Then we must decide what we are going to do to stop this.
Decide that you will only check your emails twice a day – once in the morning and once in the afternoon. Only allow 15 or 20 minutes for it. If you can’t finish checking your emails in that time, delete those that you can’t get to.
Allow yourself to surf the web only for a fixed period of time every day or every week. Set a timer and when the timer goes off, stop and do something else.
Most people spend far too much time on FaceBook, Twitter or LinkedIn. Friends are telling me now that they are only checking these sites several times a week. They have come to realize that they are not missing anything by not checking them more frequently. You may want to try this.
Put a message on your cell phone that you return calls at a certain time each morning and each afternoon. Religiously hold to this. Let incoming calls go into your voice mail. Listen to the messages only at the time you said and return the calls then. You may wonder how you handle the emergency calls – those you really need to take. You have caller ID. You can screen your incoming calls and take any that you know you have to.
Get in the habit of doing what you may consider unforgiveable. Turn your phone off at a certain time every night and for a certain period over the weekend. View this as non-negotiable. This is your time and you will not be interrupted.
What Will This Mean For You?
By making these minor changes and regaining control of your computer and your cell phone you will find that you have more time to relax. You will have more time to spend with your loved ones. You will have more time to do what you really want to do.
Try it. See if what I am telling you is true.
Have a great day.
Bob Paroski
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