Get off social
media, end the
workday at 5 and
stop checking email
on the weekends
Your work addiction, desire for success, craving for social media affirmation and tendency to stay connected at all times of the day and night are ruining your well-being and your personal relationships.
Do the people you care about think you don’t pay attention to them or aren’t interested in them because you are constantly looking at a smartphone, checking emails and/or making calls? Or worse, do they not even notice any longer because you’ve been shut off from them for so long?
A 30-day challenge is in order. You might not get through the entire shutdown period, because many people who try don’t make it. It will require some serious dedication, and you will have to fend off the wolves, close your connections and stop checking Twitter and Facebook.
And yet, the rewards are outstanding. People will notice you are more available, more present, more engaged. It will make a huge impact on your life and everyone around you. I'm hoping if you do this challenge, you will find that it works a bit like the best diets, the ones that turn into a healthy eating lifestyle for decades.
Work smarter and become more efficient with your time. You can do it!
Here’s how:
The biggest step and the one that will have the most dramatic impact is to quit working at 5 each day no matter what. No calls, no texts with the boss, no social media activity — you are agreeing to sign off at 5 and focus on other things. Let everyone know this is serious and you are not going to slip.
If your staff balks at this, point out the benefits of having time off to unplug and re-energize. Encourage your staff to do the same thing you are. Lead by example.
You are taking radical steps. No working dinners, no late-night strategy sessions. You’re logging off. Then get out and live your life.
Phones last more than eight hours these days, but it does depend on which model you have, how you use it and if you charge up during the day.
Your number one distraction by far is that little device. Once it dies for the day, decide to wait and recharge in the morning. Even if it's before 5, who cares? Switch to a laptop. Let calls go to voicemail. Become a radical “no phone after it dies” person.
Most routers have a setting these days for parental control. Use that to our advantage. In most cases you can configure a time of day setting so that the internet shuts off between 5 p.m. and 6 the next morning. (Or buy a router that has that feature that works in the office and at home.)
Block yourself before you are even able to cheat on the first two goals.
Next to your phone, email is a major temptation after the workday is over. I should know. I tend to check for new messages on the way home, after dinner, on walks and right before bed.
In this challenge, you agree to stop checking email after work but also on weekends. No excuses! Let everyone know you will not be reachable on the weekends, but that you will get back to them on Monday morning.
Accountability is incredibly important. Identify 10 friends or family members, and let them know you are quitting work at 5, not answering email at all on weekends, and taking other steps to deal with the imbalance between your work and life.
Check in with them during the week, meet them for lunch, have coffee, and really focus on them, not on your smartphone. Your relationships will be much more meaningful.
Social media accounts work like a drug. We keep checking them because we think there will be a comment or like that will boost our ego, and there’s a dopamine hit in the brain when we get that feedback.
At the start of this challenge, let everyone know you are pausing your social activity. No posts, no tweets, nothing. It’s a risk for some, but it’s also only 30 days of non-activity. You’ll survive.
Stick with this and see how it makes a difference in your relationships with friends and family. Trust me, it will.
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