Hey there,
Here are 3 things I’ve learned and/or expanded on this week.
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2 Phone Method – Part 1
Lately I’ve been thinking about my screen time. Overall, I think that I do a good job at not mindlessly scrolling through social media on my phone.
Occasionally, I find myself going through periods of time where it sort of takes over and mindless scrolling starts to ramp up. I’ll reach in my phone to intentionally check a text message and then quickly find myself navigating to Instagram and scrolling through my feed. I had no plan to scroll through my feed. It’s just an automatic, low barrier habit.
There are a ton of things you can do to combat this and add some barriers. Take your social media apps off your homepage. Greyscale your phone to make it look less intriguing. Lock yourself out of certain apps at certain times of day. Give yourself some kind of reward when you manage to keep your screen time at a minimum.
Your phone can be a really useful tool for communication, learning, business, productivity, etc… Don’t get me wrong, you can certainly use social media in a productive way for communication, learning, and business. However, it can also plague you with never ending, mindless content.
I just upgraded to a new phone and thought I’d try a little experiment to help me reduce unintentional, mindless social media use. My old phone will now act as my primary social media device and my new one will act as my communications, learning, business, and productivity device.
I’ll only be able to access my social media if I’m carrying the phone on me and I’m attached to an external wifi source or I turn on the hotspot of my new phone nearby. The goal is to add barriers.
The key here is that I am trying to reduce mindless and unintentional social media use. I’m not trying to cut out social media altogether. I will still use it. I will still scroll. I will still be entertained by it. My goal isn’t to cut it out. My goal is to be more intentional about it.
I expect to have many instances of ruminating anxiously when I realize I can’t just pull my phone out, open my social media, and start mindlessly scrolling.
What do you think? Is the 2 phone method overkill? What are some of your strategies that help you reduce unintentional scrolling through social media? Let me know your thoughts in the comments!
Balance Logic And Emotion
For most of my life I’ve been a very logical thinker and doer. I’ve based most of the decisions I’ve made on logic. Oftentimes, I’ve neglected and suppressed my emotions in order to let my logical brain take over.
This is probably not a good idea. It’s probably not the best way to go through life.
Logic and emotion can and should compliment each other. They are not mutually exclusive. They should be thought of as two sides of the same coin.
Both logic and emotion have a large influence on each other. It goes in both directions. You’re probably doing yourself a disservice by letting one or the other take over all of the time.
Emotions are information about our internal state and our environment. When you feel some way about a thing, that’s information. There’s a reason that you’re feeling that way. Logic helps us channel those feelings and emotions and can provide us with actionable steps to take from there. When we use both logic and emotion our decision making becomes more balanced. When we swing too far towards the emotional side of the spectrum, our ability to handle stress can be significantly reduced. If you want to improve your ability to handle stress you should improve your ability to balance logic and emotion.
The connections and relationships you have with others are also affected significantly by how you balance logic and emotion. This includes how you communicate, and your level of empathy, compassion, and kindness.
Mindfulness practices can help you improve your ability to balance logic and emotion.
You feel the emotion – oh there it is. You sit with it for a little bit. Maybe you down-regulate it or up-regulate it with some breathing practices. Maybe you sit with it for a long time and really let yourself feel it. Eventually, you bring logic into the equation to figure out your next steps and actions from there. Give it a try!
Boredom Leads To Success?
Can you handle the boredom of being successful?
We live in a world of novelty. Things change very quickly. The content we watch often lasts seconds to maybe a few minutes before we are onto the next.
If you want to get really good at a thing, you have to get really good at being bored. Boredom can be a sign of success, or potential success to come.
Successful bodybuilders are really good at getting the reps in day in and day out.
Successful writers are really good at sitting in a room for a long time typing away.
Successful actors are really good at rehearsing a scene over and over and over again, until they get it right.
I’m not saying that you should be chasing boredom. I’m not saying that you can’t get really good at something and still be mentally stimulated by it. What I am saying is that to get really good at something you have to put the time in, and putting the time in will almost certainly get pretty boring from time to time.
Next time you feel bored doing something that you want to get really good at don’t think “god, I really need to stop doing this and do something else”.
Instead, think of the boredom as a catalyst for all kinds of things that will lead you to success in the long run like:
- Creativity
- Problem solving
- Deep work
- Focus
- Reflection and learning
Peace friend,
Jamie
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