Are you as addicted to social media as I was? There was a time where I picked up my phone first thing in the morning. It was even on my bedside table and somehow I just couldn’t live without it, or at least I thought so 😉   I would look and see what was going on in other people’s life before starting my own.

At this moment my life looks quite different. To start with I don’t have my phone in my bedroom anymore because it interferes with a good night’s sleep. If you are forced for whatever reason to have it in your bedroom, at least switch off your data, so only calls will get through.

Now when I wake up I don’t grab my phone. I go for a wee, brush my teeth and then I sit down to meditate. This way I prepare my mind to a non-reactive state.   After meditation I exercise, study, journal and/or read. In between I hydrate of course.  In normal circumstances, I drink about 0.75 liter of water already before I go off to work. I prepare myself to go to work and maybe, just maybe, IF I have a little bit of time, I have a peep into what’s going on in other people’s lifes. This is more or less my normal morning routine and it puts my mind in a proactive, and great state to start off my day.

The way you start your day, anchors you and it gets you in this state of higher productivity.

So why is letting go of social media important?

More and more people live in a reactive state. This means we give our power away to external factors. We don’t think about our lifes or the things we want to do, we let life live us instead of us living our lifes. When we are on social media and we get likes, dopamine and oxytocin, the feel-good chemicals, are released. Researchers say we get more of a dopamine kick from social media than from the real things in life, like having a cuddle, eating chocolate, achieving high results and even having sex!

Things go wrong when you are replacing the real feelings with the feelings you get on social media. The other way around can happen too. Negative reactions bring us down and we let the outer world influence our (mental) well-being.Then there is another thing; when we jump on our phones because it is constantly beeping and/or vibrating – and most of us just can’t ignore it- it takes about 23 minutes to get our concentration back! And this happens with even the slightest disconnection. Amazing isn’t it?

So if you want to be more productive, more present and have a better concentration, apply these tips:

• Put your phone in flight mode during deep work, or at least disconnect data so you’re still available in case of emergency
• Close all the tabs on your computer that could tempt you to have a peek into the virtual world
• Set time blocks and after that go and do something totally different, move around and/or get some fresh air
• Schedule your ‘social media breaks’ – we all need them and we all want them, so it’s better to schedule them in or give them as a reward to yourself when a difficult task has been completed

I know social media is very important too. In our modern world we communicate through it and a lot of times it’s very useful. It keeps us close to all of our peeps around the world and it can be an effective tool for our business. There’s nothing wrong with using social media, just use it wisely and please don’t substitute the real world for the virtual world. 

What I would suggest is to detox a little bit from social media every now and then. Spend more time in the real world, connect with real people and definitely don’t start your day looking at who has the most wonderful life in Facebook or Instagram world!

Want to know more about how to increase your productivity? Schedule a session with me in person or virtually 😉