Tag: tips

Putting away my smartphone, you should too!

Happy MONDAY! Which happens to be the busiest day of the week for everyone. Back to my topic! 

Interestingly enough, this thought has lingered in my mind for quite some time now:

“What would it be like to completely remove my smartphone from my daily routine?” 

I think it’s an idea for all of us to instantly pick up our cellphones as soon as our day begins. Most of us have our alarm clocks on our cellphones. What ever happened to regular alarm clocks we have to plug into our walls and smack the button to turn it off?- I honestly can’t remember the last time I owned one. We’re all so consumed with our cellphones, after all, they are supposed to make our lives easier, right? 

Do you think you’re using your time as productively as you could be?

Do you feel disciplined enough to not have to put up your smartphone and still manage to have high productivity levels on a regular basis? 

I was listening to a podcast from “Hidden Brain”, Topic: Hidden Work. The special guest on there was basically discussing how he is able to produce high productivity levels on a regular basis once he learned to “give time” to his cellphone rather than his cellphone consuming most of his time. Not consistently looking at your phone at the notifications that pop up or you becoming distracted from your daily work because you decide to scroll through social media. There was a specific article that discusses how much information we actually DO NOT retain when we are studying once we get distracted by an email, text message, or social media. In fact, we end up realizing that we’ve scrolled or are on there for a longer period than we initially planned —-that’s definitely resonates with me. 

Can you think back on the days when you didn’t have a cellphone?

What was your life like?

I’m curious! We’ve been pushed into a world where face-to-face interaction doesn’t often occur. As a matter of fact, most of us can quickly send an email, text, DM on social media and bam, who has to see THAT persons face and deal with the aftermath right then and there? NOT ME! 

But don’t you miss it? Don’t you miss getting out and searching for a new place to eat without having to pull out your cellphone to find the next place to go? Don’t you miss meaningful conversations face to face with people? I have a friend that made a rule for us a long time ago. That if we were to meet up, we had to focus on our conversations and not pick up our cellphones to look at who’s trying to contact us. Give someone your undivided attention! —-I must say I absolutely sucked at it for the first few months. I kept apologizing and explaining how I “needed” to get that message. After a while I realized that my friend legitimately felt that I was not “there” because my mind was also focused elsewhere. 

Fast forward a few years now and Let’s just say your girl has it down. Meaningful conversations with your loved ones you don’t see often, “check”, I got my cellphone put away. But why can’t we apply this rule to our daily lives? How about we put our cellphones down at an event we don’t know ANYONE at and face the music to socialize with others rather than scrolling through social media? —I can’t begin to tell you how many times I’ve done this little trick. “Scroll scroll scroll, oooo when is such and such gonna show up so I can ACTUALLY lift my head up and start looking around?!” Definitely makes me feel like I’m lacking in my social skills FOR SURE. 

SO I’ve made a decision:

  1. Use my cellphone to speak to people that I need to have a conversation with on a regular basis (such as my husband) and have my phone available Incase my children’s schools contacts me for anything. 
  2. Put my phone far enough away from me where my notifications are turned off, but my ringer is on in case of an emergency. (You’d be surprised at how much my phone doesn’t ring at all because most people nowadays prefer texting) so truthfully I feel I don’t have anything to worry about in that area.
  3. Pick up my laptop and use it to post my daily blogs and check my email, then turn it off once I’m done. All my study material I’m currently using are books that I have in hand so no need to have my iPad, laptop, or cellphone open for that dedicated time. 

With just these few simple steps for the next week (as an experiment) I plan on having higher productivity levels as I sometimes find myself consumed in my smartphone. I’m hoping for more meaningful conversation with individuals, especially when I run into someone and can’t say “oh I totally saw that pic on social media! Such a cute idea/outfit!” I can get my dad to stop saying he finds it funny to walk by Scott and I and see both of us on our cellphones. If adjustments are needed to be made within those steps I’ve written to produce better results then I will tweak them in a week! I’ll give my feedback of a “before and after” in hopes that you decide to take small step into a less complicated daily approach( which can also lower your anxiety levels btw) 

Thanks again for dropping by! Drop a line and let me know your thoughts! I’m absolutely interested whether you’ve done this before! 

Until next week, guys!

Need Encouragement? 8 tips to reach your potential!

It’s Not Whether You Get Knocked Down, It’s Whether You Get Up.” – V. Lombardi

Do you ever feel like you have hit a plateau in your life? What ever it is that you may be pursuing in life? Man, I feel like I HIT THAT this past week! No matter how hard I attempted to pull myself out of it, I was absolutely UNSUCCESSFUL!

Funny how drastic things typically have to occur in order for you to realign your priorities (again), get that fire under your ass and keep going, huh? As you all know, my grandfather recently passed away. To be honest, out of my father’s side of the family he was the only one truly interested in my future and my career plans. Anytime I spoke with him about my goals, he would reply, “Well you need to get your Master’s degree Bianca.” Here I am little ole’ me just thinking small like, “Yeah, i’ll get my bachelors degree and work and see how things go from there.” He was such a well-rounded man. He never had his own house he desired with a backyard that had a garden he could take care of, but if he were at any friend or relatives home, he would get out there and trim some roses and just stimulate your  mind with some badass knowledge. 

So how do we get back up after being knocked down? I mean, it HAS to be easy, right? –WRONG! Oh man, the struggle is real sometimes.

Here are some helpful tips:

  1. Take a step back and evaluate what you have been doing the past week; what have you been spending your time on?
  2. Is it related to what you need to do in order for you to achieve your maximum potential in the future?
  3. If not, then go ahead and eliminate that off your “to-do” list, whether that being hanging out with friends, or scrolling through social media for hours.
  4. Start from scratch and create a NEW schedule.
  5. Make sure you make use of every HOUR of your day.(I really believe that people don’t recognize how much one can really get accomplished in a day if they just learn how to manage their time wisely.) 
  6. Dedicate a couple of hours a day to your work! -I say a couple of hours a day because I’m a mother of 3, so sometimes it’s hard to pull away for an extended amount of time without the house falling apart rather quickly. 
  7. Once you are done with that PLANNEDout schedule for your week, do a test run and see if there are any changes you think you need to implement. 
  8. LASTLY, keep in mind that it takes TIMEto adjust to new schedules, just like a sleep schedule takes a minimum of two weeks for your body to adjust to those set times you have placed. 

 

 

After getting back from my grandfather’s funeral and discovering that I have a good amount of family members in the medical field, my desires to achieve that maximum potential in my life have SKYROCKETED!–You can catch me studying, while trying to blog, and be a good mom all at once. Let’s see how well I can manage.

I hope this helps you some! Weigh in and add what you think should be on this list of tips as well. Can’t wait to hear from you all!