Distraction Detox

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Life balance elusive? (You’re not alone) If you, like me, are a home-based entrepreneur, then balancing the various aspects of your life can pose quite a challenge. Even if you’re not home-based, the challenge remains. I hope the following article is helpful to you in finding that balance. Thanks to SCORE & Jeanne Rossomme for very real-world useful information. – Edward

by Jeanne Rossomme – CLICK HERE to read article in its entirety on SCORE’s website

This New Year, my dear friend and inspirational entrepreneur, Aviva Goldfarb started a Sugar Detox Facebook group page. The instructions were simple – cut out all added sugar for the month of January. It is enlightening and a bit scary to see how sugar creeps into everything we eat – and how that constant stream of sugar is so very difficult to quit. The detox term is not too strong.

All of this got me thinking about my number one New Year resolution – to take back my time and my thoughts from the constant stream of interruptions. I decided I needed to create a Distraction Detox. Unfortunately, I cannot resolve to cut out 100% of all the buzzes and pings coming at me on any given day. But I have been trying to gradually improve my mindfulness by setting up some simple rules:

1. Shut off alerts.

This is perhaps the easiest step, and a huge help. On all electronic devices I have set up preferences to shut off all alerts with the exceptions of appointments and one “ping me” source…

2. Set up one “ping me” channel.

I realized that one of my problems was that I was constantly scanning several channels (email, text, phone, Skype, Google chat) for any urgent messages or requests that may come in from clients (or my kids). This caused me to be constantly checking several sources, wasting time and causing me to react to way too many things, versus being purposeful. I decided to set up one chat channel (Skype) for clients and another for kids/family (text).

3. Device free zones.

In my family, the dinner table has always been a place where the only communication devices are our faces talking with each other. This year I am trying to expand those times and places, leaving my phone home on walks with my husband and also shifting from digital to paper books by my bedside to resist the temptation to check email late at night.