On New Year's Eve my husband said "what's your resolution for 2023?" For the first time in many years I hadn't thought about it. Work deadlines, a young son, Christmas preparations and an attempt at festive socialising was enough to contend with, I hadn't had time to consider whether there was going to be a 'new year, new me'.
"I'm going to stop looking at my phone at 8pm every night" he said.
This got me thinking. In professional services our jobs are on a screen - we have our emails on our mobiles, our phones ring through to our tablets, our documents can be worked on anywhere in the world. Does turning off our devices equal presence, clarity and ultimately happiness? Who hasn't asked themselves where do I draw the line between giving excellent client service, creating business opportunities and making connections, and being unable to get off the wheel?
But maybe the issue isn't accessibility of work. I find myself time and again wishing for more hours in the day and hunting out snippets of unrelated information and inspirational quotes to operate as a quick fix.
Actually is the question how much of the time that I do have is wasted, used inefficiently? How much of this is due to constant distractions on screens? I log in to my emails to see a Linked In notification, I log in to Linked In and scroll my feed. 20 minutes later I haven't done what I went on to Linked In to do. I finish a piece of work and make a cup of tea, go back to my desk and pick up my phone to check the time. I unlock it by looking at it and see a red dot next to a social media app. 20 minutes later etc etc. Are we distracted by the availability of everything via our screens?
So, ask me again if I want a resolution and I will answer - making sure those minutes and hours I spending flitting from screen to screen are not minutes and hours wasted in distraction from those things that are meaningful, joyful and important.
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