If you’re like me and millions of other professionals/fitness enthusiasts out there, you likely wear a smartwatch. Also, if you’re like me, you fell in love with these gadgets when they were first introduced to the world (back in 2004, whoa!) The goal of the smartwatch…keep us focused, organized, and power us up with all the data attached to our every move during the day and night….fitness levels, workouts, heart rates, step counts, sleep patterns, and on and on. All sounds great, right? Well, recently my love affair with my smartwatch started to feel a little strained. While, it did what I wanted it to initially, its helpfulness began to decrease. Yes, it provided a lot of data and reminders, BUT it also began to be a productivity buzz kill. Before I knew it I was constantly looking at my watch because it was pinging and buzzing all the time with alerts, texts, email, phone calls, and social media updates (there’s probably a lot more but you get my drift).
So, I’m here to share some shocking truth talk, a plot twist of sorts. What if I told you that less connectivity could be the answer in boosting your productivity?! Sounds counter intuitive, right? I know you’re shaking your head, but take a minute and think about how your smartwatch impacts your day. If you’re one of those people saying, pfft…it doesn’t play a role in my day, then that’s awesome. However, if you’re like many of us multi-taskers whose brain basically implodes while trying to tackle a gazillion tasks in a day with millions of distractions, take note and ditch the watch! Guess what, the world won’t stop spinning!
Each of us are wired differently, and how we manage our time is personal. But, I will remind you that “time” is a gift and should be managed with the utmost care and attention to detail. I challenge you to experiment (this is a great time of year to do it) and allow yourself a smartwatch detox for 3-7 days.
Here’s what you might discover:
- You’ll reduce stress
- Your productivity will soar because your less distracted
- You will exercise because you love it and not for a stat (if you’re a runner, I feel your pain here, especially if you’re a Strava user. You know the old saying, “if it’s not on Strava, it didn’t happen.” Get over it, you know it did happen).
- You will be fully present with colleagues, family, friends, and especially children
- Your focus will improve drastically
- Your sleep and sleep quality will improve
- You won’t have to worry about charging it all the time OR even worse dying in the middle of a workout (that’s the worst)
- You can break out those beautiful “old fashion” watches and take it old school (be a trend setter)
One thing I can absolutely promise is that the world will not stop because you aren’t wearing your smartwatch. The pressure to respond in seconds is mostly a self inflicted expectation we put on ourselves, unless you’re in the business of saving lives, more than likely you don’t need to respond right away. Take the challenge, and assess how you feel afterwards. Perhaps you move to a hybrid model of wearing a traditional watch in combo with your smartwatch, whatever you choose to do, you’ll learn a little more about yourself, how you manage your workday and relationships, and fully understand the role these devices play in your day-to-day. If you want next level breakthrough, create a purpose blueprint that sets you up for success to exceed your fullest potential.
Drop a comment and let me know how your experiment went, I’ll be dying to hear all about it!
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