Wasted your day today?
I was supposed to be on holiday for 2 weeks in July. I was supposed to be switching off and recharging my batteries. The slog of getting through each day, with my business, work, family and friends was getting on top of me and a few weeks in the sun was what The Caveman Doctor had ordered.
I packed my bags and disappeared on a plane to Barbados. Yes, I hit it big, Sun, Sea, Sand and lots and lots of sun beds. This was what I needed but I did not realise that I was not switching off.
It was about 8 days into the holiday that I realised that I was still actually working and had not actually relaxed. I don’t mean spending hours on my laptop and making calls but I was still in contact with the world and working on my business.
It was a conversation I was having on Linked-In, with a new contact arranging a meet for a potential TV show. I happen to mention that I was on a beach and was asked why I was on Linked-In instead of being in the sea. I laughed and ignored this comment for another day before I realised that they had a point to make.
The trouble was that I had my mobile with me and had told myself that I could be trusted. I took it to the beach so I could listen to music and as the hotel had a great Wi-Fi connection, I did not stop looking at the front screen and listening to the ‘pings’ of new messages and connections coming through.
I found myself sat on a sun lounger, sun glasses on, sun beating down and me with my phone in my hand scrolling through ‘notifications’ every time the phone went ‘ping’. Just like most people my phone sounds constantly with a little note, tune or ting, each telling me a different notification coming through. My battery on my phone was only lasting about 8 hours because I was on it constantly – “This was not what I had signed up for!”
At the end of day 10, I was sat on the bed, plugging in the phone again and it was then that the penny dropped. What was I doing, I was glued to my phone and not enjoying my holiday!
The fix
I made an instant decision to switch off the notifications. I knew that most notifications are read within 5 seconds of being received on a phone, I was one of those statistics. They all went off and when I saw all the red dots against the settings, I felt instant relief.
The last 4 days of my holiday were what I needed, peace, quiet, relaxation and no pings!
Returning home, I considered turning back on the pings, but decided against allowing them to rule my life again. All my social media pings have remained off, only emails are now allowed to tell me that I have something new to look at.
Being back from my holiday, I can now say that I have back the control of my life and my phone is no longer a pull on my ear. I have more time, less distraction and I no longer have this need to be in possession on my phone.
Most people do not realise how captivating their phone can be and if you want to experience a different daily feel, just try switching off your notifications to you social media accounts and see what happens. For me it has been not only a positive experience but a liberating one as well.
Need to know how
If you need to know how to do this for;
iPhone’s https://www.imore.com/how-manage-notifications-iphone-and-ipad
Check out my Facebook page – https://www.facebook.com/CarlJonesSpeaker
Thank you for sharing