Recently I attended a meditation program where I was asked to keep silence for 3 days – I was not supposed to talk to anyone, not read any books and above all not use my phone! All I did during those 3 days was be in silence, introspect and face my fears rather than drowning them with new problems. I would like to share some of the things I learnt to entrepreneurs to make their life better.
Disconnect from the outer world
Turn off the Internet in your smartphone when you go to bed. The constant buzzing and blinking notifications not only makes us twist and turn in bed but also force to keep checking the phone one last time. Trust me; nothing bad is going to happen when you are sleeping. Your friends and family have your number and would call you if they need your help. Period.
Connect with yourself
Just because you have turned off the alarm doesn’t mean you are awake and your mind is ready to deal with all the chatter. So do not turn on the internet as soon as you wake up. The worst mistake we do is check our mails even before we get off our bed. My vice was Facebook. Groggy eyed and still semi-conscious I always ended up spending 15-20 minutes scrolling through endless cat photos, memes, my friends’ holiday photos and then rush getting ready for office. The first one hour when you wake up is very crucial – do not start overloading your brain. The way you start the day determines how productive you will be. Meditate for a few minutes or go for a walk outside. The 3D graphics rendered by nature and the cool morning air is so much better than the HD wallpapers of Hawaii that adorn our PCs. Just feel grateful to be alive this very day and smile 🙂
Non-stop notifications
Once we step in the office our time is no longer truly ours. We are always surrounded by people requesting our attention, emails that need to be replied to and the non-stop buzzing from Whatsapp and Facebook. When I am in office I keep my phone on the desk and always keep glancing at it every few seconds expecting it to buzz. And even when it doesn’t I still unlock my phone just to ‘make sure’ I didn’t miss out anything. This Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO) never lets our minds to relax and always keeps us in a fight or flight mode. So stop this madness right away.
- Turn over your phone and keep it upside down to resist the temptation to look at it. Even better keep it in your drawer if you want to get some ‘real’ work done.
- Turn off the notification lights for Whatsapp/Facebook/X app that disturb you a lot. Whenever my phone blinks I feel compelled to take a look at it even when I am in the middle of some important work. Bam, there goes my complete attention for checking out “LOL” comment I got for the cat video.
- Do not sit in your desk continuously for more than 45 minutes. Take a break. Go grab a cup of coffee with friends or just take a look outside through the window. Do not think about the next item on your to-do list or check your phone. Just be with yourself.
- Take a short nap in the afternoon. It will give you energy to get through the remaining half of the day.
- Stretch your hands and legs every hour and do not stay glued to the monitor.
- And when things don’t go as planned, close your eyes, take a deep breath and repeat “All is well”.
- When you feel you have given your 100% just let go and relax. There is only so much in this world that we can control.
Our future will always be better than how we think it will be. So Keep Calm and Carry On!
