It’s Time To Unplug
Wednesday, April 24, 2019 - Joe Kiedinger
In today’s world of technology at our fingertips, we are exposed constantly to calls, emails, texts, social media messages, LinkedIn invitations and the like. It’s not like the olden days when folks would work a solid eight hours at the office with a landline as their only incoming source of communication. At the end of the day, when they would head home, their work didn’t follow them.
Today, with our constant exposure to incoming questions on our smart phones, computers and tablets, we end up working outside of normal office hours. While this can help us to get more done in a day, it can also wear on a person, leading to stress.
While it is true that the seemingly never ending flow of communication causes us stress, there are things we can do to change that. I’ve heard a lot of suggestions over the years, but the one that seems most beneficial is also the most obvious: Simply turn off your technology.
Now don’t get me wrong, I definitely understand the draw when you hear your phone ring, beep, buzz or play a tune; you want to find out information which is a mystery at that moment. But from experience, I think we can all agree most messages are things that can wait until the next working day. So I suggest that you pick a time at the end of the day, maybe it’s as soon as you walk in the door of your home, maybe it’s after dinner or maybe it’s 8pm. Just pick a time and turn off your phone, computer or tablet and focus your energy on your family and yourself.
It’s so essential to have time to unwind and recharge at the end of the day in order to be effective at work the next morning. Don’t feel guilty about letting some messages wait. Feel proud that you dedicated time to relax in order to become even better at what you do during working hours.
Joe Kiedinger
ACTION PLAN: Turn off the technology and unplug!