The situation brought about by the pandemic has made us embrace living our lives digitally–from conducting businesses to helping out.
Just like in real life, we can train ourselves to take advantage of opportunities in the digital world to lead better our digital lives:
1. Use spreadsheets to manage your productivity.
It’s easy to lose track of time while working at home especially with most of our workday routines gone. The line between work and home activities are now blurred.
Just give it a try: record your whole day’s activities and the amount of time you’ve spent at each one. Soon, you can adjust and plan for a week’s routine. Spreadsheet can be a great tool to set a mindset that divides work and personal time, wherever you are.
2. Transition to a more positive relationship with social media.
Use the power of the mute button to lessen content that negatively affects our self-worth, our behaviour as a wise consumer/entrepreneur, or our mental health. Remember that social media can turn into a silo of information that has very little contribution to our well-being.
Set-up your algorithm to show insightful and useful content such as recommendations for books, recipes, business tips, etc.
3. Use RSS feed readers for news and information instead of social media.
There are tons of information every day and it’s difficult to figure out where to start. RSS feed readers like Feedly or The Old Reader help us curate the things we want to read about each day without the noise.
Get a digest of the stock market or industry news sans rants and fake news. It’s not only a great way to use our time in the morning before logging in but it also insulates us from unnecessary triggers that can put you off for the entire day.
4. Limit the number of apps on our phone to 10.
Apps can be helpful or an excuse to procrastinate. Choose apps that enhance productivity, clarity, and enjoyment when connecting with family and friends.
Some essentials include email, banking/finance, up to two private messaging platforms, max of two social media networks, and food & transport apps.
Remember that we can opt-out of other people’s excessive daily logs and most popular apps already have features that can do a multitude of tasks.
5. Use visual lists and boards to inspire you.
Vision boards and pictographic lists not only help develop ideas but they also keep you accountable. Pinterest and Evernote continue to be one of the best platforms for this objective.
Having a visual of your new business plan or a personal project keeps you more focused on reaching your goals. The anticipation of reaching milestones prolongs the pleasure of having achieved something meaningful and in times of uncertainty, one can always use a dose of positive emotions.
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