3 Things to Focus on in the New Year
Time to focus. New year, new you and all that jazz. The beginning of the year is the classic time to reevaluate and plan for the upcoming year.
This doesn't mean you must create hard and fast resolutions that will be forgotten or ignored in two weeks. Can you say too much pressure? Yikes!
Take time to think about the past year and ponder on these three things that you can use to help focus on positivity and personal growth for the next year.
Plan your time [better]
Take a peek at your calendar from last year. Was it organized and balanced? It's hard to manage everything but try to plan for stressful periods by scheduling in some me time. Last month on my most stressful work day, I scheduled a facial for after work. It was such a great idea! I had something positive to look forward to and it was a great celebration of a successful day.
Is there any time of the month that gets crazy for you? Block off an hour or two and decompress so you can come back strong. Schedule a coffee date with a friend, a happy hour with a co-worker, or escape to a movie.
I challenge you to reframe that stressful time into a more positive experience.
Disconnect to connect
We're all way too connected to our devices. Take back control of your life by taking control of your phone. Put the dang thing down and turn it off occasionally.
We've always had a ‘no phones at dinner rule' at our house. What times of day do you feel your phone is most coming between you and the people you need to connect with? Are you focusing on your phone when you're at work and should be concentrating on doing your job? That's a problem. Turn off your phone and put it into a drawer or your purse. Out of sight, out of mind.
Technology is interrupting our families and relationships with children.
A recent study found, “higher levels of technoference were associated with greater relationship conflict and lower relationship satisfaction. Further, it seems greater levels of smartphone and other relationship technoference makes people more depressed and lowers their overall life satisfaction.”
Is technorefence causing issues for you? Be honest with yourself about your phone usage. Use the new iOS screen time feature to track your time. I have a feeling your screen time will be a lot more than you had imagined.
Picking up our phones constantly is a horrible habit. Next time you grab it, ask yourself if you really need to check it.
Bored? Pick up your phone and check Instagram. Bored again? Wonder what's trending on Twitter. Sound familiar? Mindless app scrolling has proven to cause unhappiness and dissatisfaction with our own lives.
Pairing with the above checking your screen time, how about deleting a few apps from your phone that may be distracting you from your life?
Create space in your day
What if you stopped using your phone in the first and last hour of your day? Create your own golden hour with zero tech to start and end your day with your own thoughts.
I've been guilty of picking up my phone first thing in the morning and diving right into Instagram. Maybe you too? This coming year I'm going to try not to spend the first waking moments of my day looking at the ‘Gram or my phone in general. Email first thing in the morning is the worst! It's my own fault for looking. I'm going to stop that.
Create a challenge for yourself to block off no-phone times and zones. Reconnect with the people in your life and recharge yourself. No devices needed or necessary.
Stop doing things that don't move the needle for you personally and professionally and make time for the things that make you happier and healthier. Focus on bringing joy into your day and being mindful of too much screen time.
FOMO is a thing of the past – JOMO is taking its place. JOMO is the joy of missing out. You'll be healthier and happier if you take a walk instead of scrolling through memes and political posts.
Let me know in the comments or on social media how you're going to focus more and use technology less.
