My phone wants to kill my upcoming career.
If I calculate the hours I have spent on this phone since I bought it earlier in July… (on second thoughts let's not do this. I would end up stressing myself more. And I have promised to extend grace to myself.)
But the truth is this phone rests only when I'm sleeping or charging it. Hold up. Don't be too eager to judge, I do productive work on this phone. It's handy and easier than using my laptop especially these days when my back hurts from sitting for hours. It's also easier to work with my phone when I'm moving around.
However, the disadvantage is that I get easily distracted by other things, particularly social media notifications. Replying to that one message on WhatsApp, reading that one tweet on X, or watching that one video on Instagram or YouTube could lead to endless minutes or hours of scrolling and burning precious data that I'm to use for work.
The other day I was having a general meeting with myself and realised how much I spend on the phone whether I'm working or not. My productivity has also declined a bit these past months.
Yes. I'm still doing work that matters. But at night when I should do my writing, see a movie or read the tons of articles I have saved in my Chrome, I spend it trying to complete tasks I couldn't finish during the day because I got distracted for a couple of hours in total.
Happy New Month. I hope you smile more. 😘
Little things can distract us. The phone is one of them. It's easy to get derailed and spend too much screen time on our phones. This distraction robs us of precious time you can't get back. It's okay to relax, to take breaks and have cheat days. But it becomes a problem when the cheat days become every day and relaxation every hour.
It's so easy to get distracted and difficult to get back on track. So you have to make a conscious effort to fall back in line when you derail.
“Phones are a beautiful source of depression.” Tim Denning
I agree with him.
First, the phone distracts you so much that you end up not doing what you are supposed to do. So at the end of the day, you are sad and beat yourself up. Do you change? Maybe not, because addiction is not easy to leave. So it's more of a cycle of sadness.
Secondly, you spend all those hours watching “successful” people on social media. I'm putting that in quotation because success is subjective and means different things to different people. You want to be like them but spend so much time watching them than taking action.
Well, in the two scenarios, you end up unhappy at the end of the day. You don't take action and you are not living the life you want. This is a one-way ticket to depression. So spend less time on social media and wishing. Do more.
Shun procrastination. Don't just say let's start again tomorrow. There is always another day to move the things to…. But what if one day that "another day" doesn't come? I'm not trying to scare you.
Just…do things that matter to you while you can. (Don't be like me). Routines can be deadly or good. It can make or mar. So let your routine be for good. Build. Stay consistent. And don't spend all your time on the phone.
Does your phone also distract you? Is your phone your mobile office? How do you cope with distractions? I would love to hear from you.
Cheers to your continued growth and a fulfilled life.
With love and everything beautiful,
Chinonyelum
PS: it's good to be back here. I have been spending so much time working these past months (I need money to live a baby girl lifestyle ). I didn't even have time to write. So like a prodigal child, I'm back.
A lot of things happened and I will share them in subsequent newsletters. Also, I'm adding part B to this letter. It would be images, memes or writings that stood out for me during the week. See ya next week.
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I can totally relate... I try to do as minimal work as possible on my phone but once I hit a stumbling block or something stresses me while working on my laptop, I instinctively pick up my phone and scroll away time on social media.
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I have setup focus mode on my phone and a few other digital well being tools to help curb the bad habit, I always find a way to beat the my own restrictions 😭🤣 Few weeks ago, I just hid all my social media apps, almost as good as uninstalling them, they don't show up anywhere on the phone unless another app redirects you to them. Now it's extremely stressful and impossible to just mindlessly click and scroll away, I hope that finally works... Wish me luck🤞🏾 😂.