Posts tagged with ‘Technology’

The Importance of Unplugging

What percentage of your waking hours are you “plugged in” (i.e. checking things on the internet, doing email, texting, playing with your wireless device, watching TV, posting to Facebook or Twitter, and more)? If you’re anything like me and most of the people I know and work with, probably more than you’d like to admit.

Recently I began to confront my own obsession (borderline addiction) to being plugged in. For many years I’ve justified my somewhat obsessive nature about email and internet use by the fact that I run my own business and have to stay connected in order to make sure I’m taking care of my clients, generating new business, and not missing out on important opportunities.

However “true” this may seem, in the past few years (especially with the addition of social networking, texting, and other forms of “instant” communication and information sharing), it has become clear to me that my desire to stay connected has gotten a bit out of control and has had a negative impact on my life, my well being, and my relationships.

From entrepreneurs to sales people to managers to stay-at-home moms – just about everyone I know and work with seems to have some form of electronic obsession impacting their lives in a negative way.

About a month ago, I woke up on a Sunday morning and said to my wife Michelle, “I’m going to have a media free day today – no email, iPhone, internet, TV, or anything else. Today, I’m going to be totally unplugged.” She looked at me with a bit of amazement and disbelief – I think both because I was actually saying this and because she wasn’t convinced I could do it.

I had my own doubts and a few weak moments early in the day where I almost fell off the wagon and checked my phone. However, I was able to do it and by the end of that day, I felt great. I was able to relax and be present in a way that felt grounded and peaceful. The past four Sundays I’ve been “unplugged” and I’m loving it.

What if we unplugged more often? What if we gave ourselves permission to disconnect from technology and the “important” world of uber-communication? While for some of us this is easier than others, most of us could benefit from a little more unplugging and a little less emailing/texting/web or channel surfing in our lives.

What’s funny to me is how hypocritical we often are about it. When our spouse, co-worker, or friend is busy on their phone, checking email, or being “obnoxiously” plugged in, we often get annoyed. However, when we’re the one doing it, it’s almost always “necessary.”

Here are a few things you can do to start unplugging yourself in a healthy way.

1) Take inventory of the negative impact of technology in your life. How much stress, frustration, and difficulty does being constantly “plugged in” cause for you? Think about this on a physical, mental, emotional, relational, and spiritual level. Admittedly, this is a bigger issue for some of us than others. However, the more honest you can be with yourself about it – both the impact it has on you and any underlying fears that may be associated with it, the more able you’ll be to alter your habits.

2) Challenge yourself to take conscious breaks. See if you can schedule a full day to be “unplugged.” If that seems to scary at first, try a morning or a few hours. And, if doing a full day seems easy – try a full weekend, a work day, or something else that will be a stretch. I’m working up to doing a full weekend myself and entertaining the idea of week day (although that seems scarier to me at the moment). Push yourself, but go easy on yourself at the same time – baby steps are important and perfectly acceptable with this.

3) Unplug together. See if you can get other people in your house, your family, or those you work with to unplug with you. Doing this with the support of other people can be fun and make it easier. It will also create accountability for you and those around you.

Our issues and challenges with technology and our obsession with being connected and online 24/7 don’t seem to be going away or getting better culturally. In fact, if we just take a look at our own lives and habits in the past few years – for most of us, things are getting worse. It is up to us to interrupt this pattern and to disengage from our electronic obsession in a conscious way.

While unplugging may not always easy or encouraged in the environments we find ourselves in, it’s crucial to our success and well being in life. When we’re able to disconnect ourselves, we can regain some of the passion, energy, creativity, and perspective that often gets diminshed or lost when we allow ourselves to get sucked into our phones, computers, TVs and other devices.

Mike Robbins is a sought-after motivational keynote speaker, coach, and the bestselling author of Focus on the Good Stuff (Wiley) and Be Yourself, Everyone Else is Already Taken (Wiley). More info – www.Mike-Robbins.com

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Posted by Mike Robbins on August 23rd, 2010 in General, Global/Social Change | 1 comment Read related posts in appreciation, authenticity, gratitude, honesty, Mike Robbins, motiviation, relationship, relax, stress, Technology

Distract Yourself in Healthy Ways

We live in a world of distractions. All day, every day we are bombarded with opportunities to be distracted. And, as I’ve recently noticed about myself, many of us choose (whether we’re conscious of it or not) to distract ourselves on purpose and to escape from life in various ways.

Given that most of us are going to be distracted on a regular basis, consciously or unconsciously, it’s important that we take a deeper look at how and why we get distracted and do what we can do to start distracting ourselves in healthy ways and for healthy reasons.

Unhealthy distraction

Due to the fact that life can get quite intense and stressful, and many of us have come up with creative ways of avoiding certain feelings, situations, and activities that are challenging for us (i.e. things we’re scared of or uncomfortable with), we tend to distract ourselves in various unhealthy ways.

Whether our personal version of distraction involves food, TV, alcohol, a “smart” phone, drugs, drama, confusion, over-scheduling, taking care of everyone around us, or anything else – we often engage in unhealthy habits (like these and others) and do so for unhealthy reasons (because we don’t want to stop, feel, and deal with the intensity of our lives).

Healthy distraction, for unhealthy reasons

Once we become aware of our unhealthy patterns of distracting ourselves (as mentioned above), we can start to replace some of these negative behaviors with more positive ones. I like to call this “productive procrastination.” Some examples:

- We re-organize our desk instead of making those scary phone calls
- We clean up the house instead of working on the creative project that we’ve been thinking about
- Instead of rushing to the refrigerator when we get stressed out, we head out to the gym or on a bike ride to relieve some stress
- We curl up with an inspiring book or watch a touching film that makes us feel better

These and other things can “distract” us in more positive ways and have less of a negative impact on us in the long run. However, if we engage in these “healthy” activities simply as a way to avoid dealing with our lives, feeling certain uncomfortable emotions, or engaging in what’s going on around us in an authentic way, there is still another level for us to reach.

Conscious, healthy distraction

The ultimate goal of this process is for us to be able to choose to “distract” ourselves (i.e. get out of our heads, let go of our negative worries, and take a conscious break from the day-to-day stress of life) in a truly healthy way. When our motivation is positive (i.e. we’re not avoiding anything, but choosing consciously to take a break), the outcome and experience of our “distraction” is more likely to be healthy and beneficial.

If we’re going to live a life of growth, meaning, and fulfillment – we need lots of healthy breaks and rests along the way, especially when things get hard. If we don’t take these breaks, it’s easy to let worry, fear, negativity, doubt, and the daily pressures of life take over, almost without us even noticing.

Here’s a long list of some simple things you can do to “distract” yourself in a healthy way.

- Watch inspiring movies
- Meditate
- Exercise
- Walk in nature
- Sing
- Laugh
- Play with children
- Travel
- Read inspiring books
- Help others
- Paint
- Spend time with people you love
- Dance
- Take classes or workshops
- Write
- Listen to inspiring music
- Swim
- Sit and do nothing

This list could go on and on. Take a moment to reflect on these and other things that you can do that will have a positive impact on your life right now.

It’s not so much what you do, but why and how you do it. When we take some time to consciously “distract” ourselves in healthy ways, we interrupt the negative, unconscious, and habitual patterns of our minds and our culture that often get in the way of us experiencing the peace, joy, and abundance that is naturally and authentically around us and within us all the time.

Mike Robbins is a sought-after motivational keynote speaker, coach, and the bestselling author of Focus on the Good Stuff (Wiley) and Be Yourself, Everyone Else is Already Taken (Wiley). More info – www.Mike-Robbins.com

If you felt moved, inspired, touched, helped, annoyed, or anything after reading this, please let us know. Our wonderful bloggers really do appreciate your comments and feedback. It’s super easy and takes a minute. Click on comments below.

Posted by Mike Robbins on May 14th, 2010 in Uncategorized | 1 comment Read related posts in appreciation, authenticity, avoid, gratitude, honesty, Mike Robbins, motivational speaker, self help, Technology