Are you one of those people that makes ambitious promises to yourself at the beginning of the year in hopes of actually fulfilling them? Well, you’ve met your match.
Every January for the past 3 years, I tell myself that I’m going to be more disciplined in the coming year because as we all know, discipline is the key to achieving any of our goals. As well as it being a great attribute for a person to generally have. But to tell you the truth, the past 3 years have featured a very undisciplined version of myself who is consumed in the world of her phone and found missing in the world of her goals. And I am tired of it. So I have officially decided that 2022 is the last time that happens. Let me tell you why.
Once in a blue moon, I come across these stories of these exceptional people who are making admirable advances in their field. They may be sportspersons, they may be people in the corporate world, they may even just be ordinary people on heck YouTube. But they have one thing in common, to my shame – they are my age. While I know comparison is generally a negative thing, sometimes it is not, because comparing where you are to where you know you have potential to be is necessary. These people, like Africans would say, do not have two heads. They bleed the same blood as you and I; they just have determination and discipline active in their lives. Seeing these stories nudges me to awaken the version of myself who is not a slave to distraction and who actually wants to achieve the vast set of goals I have for myself. And I think I have finally discovered the key to what makes that person come alive. I’d like to share these with you today in belief that you may also be trying to awaken that version of yourself.
The secret is this: Hide your phone and stay busy.
That’s it.
It almost sounds too good to be true, right? Let me explain.
After watching a myriad of ‘dopamine detox’ videos over the past few weeks, and learning the secrets to not letting dopamine act as a dictator over your life, I have come to understand that a phone addiction can actually be controlled. When I heard one particular YouTuber suggest hiding your phone, I scoffed. This was due to my assumption that my addiction was far past the stage of simply hiding my phone to avoid me reaching for it. But I have surprisingly found it to be true. Out of sight, out of mind really works. And in sight, in mind works too!
What I have began to do is keep my phone out of sight and keep my to-do list in sight. By doing this, I constantly remind my brain that I am busy. As a result, my productivity has increased immeasurably in the past number of days. I went from having 9 hours of screen time in a day to 1hr 37min the next. Without deleting all my social media apps too… Who would have thought, huh?
I have learned through this that the reason we don’t get anything done is because we tell our brains that we have nothing to do and we re-enforce this thought throughout the day through our actions. The truth is our brain learns by repetition. If we make a repetitive habit throughout the day of scrolling on our phones, we can trick our brain into thinking that is the only task that needs to be accomplished that day. However, if we make a repetitive habit of checking our to-do list, while avoiding barriers to getting through that list (such as distraction), we tell our brain that we are occupied and that it has things that must get done.
Now I make a daily habit of checking my to-do list for the week, as well as checking my 2023 goals. It puts pressure on me to get them done, because I know the feeling of satisfaction that will come upon completion of these goals. I also get an adrenaline rush from getting to tick things off my list – it is really so satisfying.
Another concept that really helped me to choose how I use my brain energy – either on scrolling or on more important things, is that of the ‘attention budget’. If you want to learn more about this, I will link the video that explains it below. If you’re serious about becoming the high achiever that you’ve always aspired to be, I highly recommend this watch.
Perhaps we are actually more disciplined that we know, but the distractions in our lives are deceiving us into thinking that we are not. I encourage you to challenge yourself and push yourself out of your comfort zone to find out.
Try the following steps next time you want to get stuff done:
- Create a to-do list of tasks that are realistically capable of being achieved that day or week.
- Ask yourself how you want to distribute your attention budget today.
- Hide your phone – Put it in your wardrobe, in the cupboard, or even in another room.
- Just start working.
It will surprise you how much you don’t feel the irresistible urge to grab your phone when it is not in your peripheral vision.
If you find that you try this and to your dismay, your phone addiction still doesn’t subside, I recommend you to watch the below video.
I hope this helps and am wishing you a very productive 2023 in the meantime. Let me know if you’re going to go ahead and try this.
