How to Prevent Overwhelm in an Online World
Studies have shown that the average person spends about four hours a day on their phone. That’s 240 minutes of pure distraction for the majority of us!
And, if we’re only awake maybe ~16 hours out of the day, that means we’re spending around 25% of our day on our phones! And that doesn’t even take into account how much time we spend on our computer indulging in similar distractions. This is alarming!
So when times get overwhelming, and we feel like we are spending too much time doing things that maybe do not matter (hello, Facebook!), let’s think about how we can stay more focused in the face of these distractions.
In today’s blog, we are going to hit this topic of HOW to stay focused in a busy, chaotic online world.
My Best Tips on How to Prevent Overwhelm in An Online World
If you are anything like me, you have one million things to do on your list every single day. In between making school lunches, balancing your meal prep, staying on top of your emails, feeding your pets, and meeting with clients, making sure you are staying sane is really hard to do.
However, with so many priorities, how do you know where and when to find your focus.
Here are some of my quick tips on what I do to ensure I stay in my own FOCUS lane:
When I am working, sleeping, and spending time with my daughter and husband, I do my best to leave my phone on Do Not Disturb or out of the room completely. I get tempted so easily to check my Insta, so I just can’t have it on me. There’s even an app for Apple computers called Self Control that lets you blacklist websites like Facebook for up to 24 hours. Do what you gotta do just to remove the distraction.
I UNFOLLOW people, businesses, influencers, and groups who do not positively contribute to my well-being. If they are not adding value to my life or business, I simply unfollow them. #byefelicia
Every week I make a prioritization list of things that “MUST get done this week” and things that “loosely need to get done this week.” This has been SO helpful for me because with competing priorities and minimal time; I am able to manage my day to day much more effectively.
I time-block everything from laundry, exercising, setting up meetings, and even writing this blog. Designating certain periods of time or days to specific tasks works best for me, I just have to commit to it!
Mornings are my ABSOLUTE best time to write. So, after I get in my runs/exercise, I always run home, shower, eat, and write for at least 15 minutes.
Why Preventing Overwhelm Is So Important
Becoming more productive in your day-to-day and less of an online consumer also means that you are protecting yourself against burnout, comparison, depression, anxiety, and overwhelm. This is a HUGE reason why you should invest time and energy into eliminating so much online jargon in your life.
For me, I picked up running to support the health of my body AND my mind. While I’m out on a run, I can’t possibly check my email or browse Instagram. Instead, it’s just me out there with the time to THINK and reflect.
When I’m back from my runs, I feel refreshed and know exactly what I need to do to feel like my day has been a success. And, even if running isn’t your thing, there’s something out there for you that will help transform you into a productivity machine!
For some people (including myself), finding a group or community of like-minded professionals and talking to them is what does it. Being productive is always easier when people are there to help you prioritize, tackle things in a new way, and hold you accountable (which is exactly why so many people have been loving my Career by Design Membership!)
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