Want More Time - Try This!

Actually, the real question is - with more time, how would you use it in a way that makes your life more enjoyable, less stressful and improves your overall mind-body health? 

Of course I'm assuming that you desire a more enjoyable life, less stress and improved health.  If you don't, you might as well stop reading right now.

With more time would you:
--spend more time on Facebook, or Twitter, or Instagram?
--binge watch more TV?
--work more and strive to finally get caught up on the backlog that haunts you?
--play more video games or watch your favorite sporting event more?
--watch more news so you're properly informed and at-the-ready for any debate that should arise?

These are the things most people would do with more time if they had it.  Sadly.  I say sadly because these very things are what's robbing us all from having that elusive "more time" and better quality of life.

Zoning out, obsessing about the news of the day, being addicted to mobile devices and its myriad of dinging notifications and binging on other mindless activities may momentarily fool you into thinking you're "taking a break" but in truth, they take you away from being present in your life and from focusing on the things you say we so desperately want like more energy, feeling calm, better connections and relationships, reduced anxiety, being more productive at work, having more light-hearted fun, eating healthy foods, moving our body in ways that build strength, stamina and vitality, and getting more sleep just to name a few.

Some of you may know that I participate in the Whole Life Challenge.  It's an 8-week online based health and wellness program that focuses on 7-Habits to improving one's health and life.  It's offered about 3 times a year. 

In the program, each week participants are given a new Lifestyle Challenge to try out.  This week focused on reducing social media time to just once per day; so not a total blackout, but once you got on, surf away and when you get off, you're done for the day. 

This is SUPER challenging for most participants.  The purpose is to demonstrate how much of a grip (aka addiction) social media has on our lives and how much time it takes away from us - distracting us from what's really important and our priorities. 

FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) is a very real condition and can cause physiological and psychological anxiety.  The thought that you're missing something important or will be left behind if you're not constantly engaged can cause serious panic. 

It's only when you step back from the grip of social media that you can gain some perspective on how it's actually impacting your life.  Is it helping you live a more meaningful and healthy life?  Is it harming you - distracting you from your priorities and robbing you of precious time?

By example - too many complain of not being able to sleep and feeling tired constantly, yet if they were willing to put down their device 30 minutes prior to going to bed, not check it in the middle of the night when they go to the bathroom, and not look at it for at least the first 30 minutes upon waking they'd realize how much more rested they really can be and how much better their life becomes.

What about you?  How much time do you spend on social media?  Do you even know? 

If you want more time and are interested in having a more enjoyable life, less stress and improved health, do this:

Week #1:  monitor and record how much time you spend on social media (ALL forms and platforms) - write it down for accuracy because as humans we are notoriously bad at mentally recording the actual time spent.  Simply get real with yourself - how many hours (yes, on average most people spend 118 minutes per day, so nearly 2 hours, on social media) are you spending?

Week #2:  set a goal for yourself to reduce the amount of time you spend on social media to 25% of what you recorded in week #1.  Then truly and honestly track it and follow through with your commitment.  It's one week.  The world isn't going to fall apart because you're not engaged constantly and you won't get unfriended :-)  Trust me.

Then if you want to supercharge the results of your 2 week experiment - try the bedtime/rise-n-shine technique I talk about above.  When you're more rested, your perspective of time changes.  Seems paradoxical, but the more you slow down in life, the more time you have.

If you're up to the 2-week challenge, let me know.  Declaring it and putting it out there will help you be more accountable, so leave a comment below saying "Yes, I'm in!" and anything else you'd like to comment on related to this topic.  I'd love to hear from you and I respond to all comments.
 
Can someone else benefit from reading today’s blog – would you be so kind as to share it with them?
 
In good health,
Coach Rusti Q