Roger Patterson is an EO Vancouver member, founder and CEO of Visual Marketing Platform and co-founder of Accelerator Launch Academy. Roger shares how he actively works against digital confusion through three smart strategies:
Twice a day – three times if I’m lucky – I reach a happy state of focus. I turned off all notifications and settled into 25 minutes of uninterrupted work. What matters is the challenge before me and my efforts to solve it. My body relaxes, my mind calms down, and I realize the feeling of achievement by following a delivery that I have prioritized.
But these moments of attention do not happen by accident. The sanctuary must be carefully constructed to allow deep work at this level. This requires timeboxing of my calendar and deliberately turning off alerts from my connected devices.
As CEO of a social marketing platform, I understand that digital tools are essential for our communication – 12 million people used Slack every day in 2020, where Zoom now has a market value of US $ 88 billion. But when left unmanaged, they can be left astray and lose the right path. One study found that remote workers were interrupted every six minutes. Similarly, on an average executive day, 46 smartphones receive notifications and their phones touch 2,617 times. Is it any wonder why two-thirds of work-from-home-executives somehow experience burnout?
To avoid burnout and restore my productivity, here are three steps I will take to combat digital confusion.
Set up rules for isolation
When we spend most of our time in the office, it costs the beginner to talk to a coworker. It involves determining whether the person you want to hire was busy or in an acceptable mood.
Since we initially moved to digital communication, these barriers have been removed. The onus is now on the receiver to manage the flow of inbound communication. And I don’t think that’s necessarily fair. Although filtering with message barrage will probably remain a modern work skill requirement, it is important to make rules for it The sender Too much
It’s easy to send a message to someone, but when we do, we’re effectively triggering a stress response within the sympathetic nervous system করা not a nice thing to do to a coworker. Before sending a message, I think we can all benefit from some basic filters: Can I get this information without bothering my coworker? When is the best time to send this message?
Not all communications are strictly transactional. A big part of being employed comes through social chat, which often needs to be done practically. That being said, being intentional about when and how to get involved can have a direct impact on the well-being of you and your colleagues.
Respect virtual boundaries
Many leaders advise avoiding meetings or keeping the guest list tight. The same policy may apply to chat tools. Inviting you to a slack channel doesn’t mean you have to be there. If you can, opt-out.
Similarly, how we use our phones can determine what kind of workday we have, albeit somewhat. When we examine our social channels and suffer from digital confusion throughout the day (such as addictive algorithms tempt us to do so), we carry both positive and negative emotions in our work. This can be a huge mental disorder and the fluctuations in endorphins can weigh on our mental health.
I am a big proponent of creating solid boundaries for virtual confusion. I don’t look at my phone in the morning and don’t check social media till 5 in the afternoon. It not only keeps me awake and moving, it frees my brain to focus on the tasks at hand.
Align your physical strength and space
Although we are talking about digital scattering, it is also a factor in how we set up our physical space. When I really need to focus, I play music, close all my window tabs, and physically clean my tabletop. Notifications are turned off, and my phone is silent, with my face down at the desk.
Just as your body space sets tone for reduced focus, energizing your body can also help clear your mind. I’ve gotten into the habit of meeting walking. When someone’s voice is moving in my ear, I am completely attentive. Inspired by Wim Huff, I started each morning with a cold shower – not easy, but just two minutes gives me the energy for the next few hours. Not a bad ratio.
It is no exaggeration to say that when not checked, excessive messaging is ruining our mental health. Fortunately, we can take the best of the digital communication age and make it work for us, not against us. Here’s to a focused, fulfilling career in 2022: Whether you’re at home, in the office, or somewhere in between.
This post originally appeared on Bay Street Bull and has been republished here with the permission of the author.
