Tip 1 – Alarm clock

80% of us use our phones as our alarm clocks which means we are looking at them from the moment we open our eyes until its time to sleep. As well as in the middle of the night! Get yourself an alarm clock and protect the sanctuary of your bedroom.

Tip 2 – Phone in cupboard

Our phones are ubiquitous. We carry them with us everywhere we go – be that in our hands, pockets or around our necks! Start placing your phone somewhere and leaving it there to remove the temptation to be constantly checking it. And to help even further try using airplane mode or do not disturb. Learn the 7 considerations I believe all families can make to create a more harmonious home life where everyone feels in control of their technology here in my blog.

Tip 3 – Batch pad

Lots of people worry they’ll forget to do something if their phone isn’t with them all the time so get yourself a little pad of paper and write those phone tasks on it rather than jumping on and off the phone all day. This will help keep you out of the smartphone rabbit hole we can all fall into! Read more about batching here.

Tip 4 – Think how you start and end your working day

If you’re checking your work email while brushing your teeth, eating your shreddies or taking your dog for its morning walk think about the impact this could be having on the start of your day. Would it work to bring real intention and turn your laptop on to signify that you are now working?

Tip 5 – Phone off the desk

We don’t want to let anyone down or miss anything and so its become normal for our phones to be on our desks while we are working. This can feel helpful but also distracting. Experiment with putting it behind the laptop, on the floor or outside the room and see if it still distracts you.

Tip 6 – Notifications off

All our apps are defaulted to notify us which results in us being pulled away from what we are doing many times in the day. Turn those notifications off and take back control as to when you are going to check your phone.

Tip 7 – Work offline

99% of people work with their email open all day and so get pulled away from the task in hand and into their inbox. Using the work offline function in Outlook will help you to stay on track and not be interrupted by messages when really trying to focus.

Tip 8 – Treat Teams like a mini-meeting

Most workplaces are reliant on Teams as well as email to keep everyone connected. This is great but the flipside is something else to interrupt our flow. Start using Teams as a mini meeting and inviting people to join you there on the chat to work through specific things at a certain time. It’ll then stop feeling like an ‘all day meeting with random participants and no agenda’.

Tip 9 – Screen free breaks

We all need breaks, especially when we are busy and under pressure. Think about the quality of your breaks and try to avoid spending them scrolling through your phone. Your brain needs a rest so you can step back to your work feeling refreshed.

Tip 10 – Less ccing

Do we need to cc everyone in on everything? This has become a very common practice and means people feel informed and included but it adds to inbox overwhelm, especially when the cc’ing is unnecessary. Include the key people in the conversation and send a round up email to anyone else once the conversation have concluded.

Tip 11 – 3 email rule

Ping ponging backwards and forwards with someone over email adds to our digital distraction and our email overwhelm. Before sending that 3rd email think if it would help to pick up the phone and chat through the point with your co-emailer. We don’t talk as much these days and the value of conversation is irreplaceable. Read about AI adoption at work and how we can ensure it helps rather than overloads us here.

Tip 12 – Meeting agendas

When organising a meeting always put together an agenda so you know why you are asking people to attend and who you should be inviting. Invitees will also be able to tell if the meeting will be a good use of their time.

Tip 13 – Fully present in meetings

Most people are still responding to emails, checking their phones and getting on with work whilst in a virtual meeting. Start being fully present and don’t allow technology to pull you away from the meeting. You will feel less overwhelmed, your colleagues will appreciate your full attention and you’ll soon realise the meetings that are a waste of your time.

Tip 14 – Two phones

Having two separate phones for work and personal use is a very simple way to put some boundaries in place between your work and home life. Alternatively consider setting up two separate profiles on your one handset and shutting down when it’s time to step away from work and rest.

Tip 15 – Draft and schedule

It may suit you to work late into the evening and send emails to catch up on the day and get ahead for tomorrow. But does it suit the people you are sending the emails to? This adds to the always on culture we work in. Try drafting and scheduling the message to go out tomorrow at a suitable time to ensure people feel confident to step away and rest in their personal time.

Working together will colleagues to devise a Digital Communications Charter will help to ensure everyone is on the same page. Here is my overview of how to do this.

Good luck. Be kind to yourself and others and take small steps to start to live and work in true Harmony with your technology.