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This week, we’re on our annual lake vacation. There’s limited internet and no cellular service at all. Without all that connectivity, I’ve had hours of time to read, reflect and plan out the rest of the year. One of the things I’ve been reflecting upon is the amount of time I must spend passively using technology for no real purpose! I’ve accomplished quite a lot on these vacation days and still managed to spend more time playing Uno with my children than can possibly be right. It’s made me realize that to declutter your day you have to get rid of time-wasting technology and organize your time are keys to accomplishing my goals.

Ok, granted, on vacation, there are a lot of chores I don’t have to do. Like laundry, feeding chickens or watering the garden. I also don’t have to drive anyone to practice, the library or a friends house. But how much time do those tasks actually take? An hour or two?  It’s really made me think; am I spending too much time on useless tasks on the computer or phone? Do I make that technological clutter an excuse or a procrastination tool as to why I haven’t achieved my goals?

Decluttering My Day

If you look online, you will find hundreds of sites, articles, email courses and videos on how to declutter your home. They will tell you how to evaluate objects in your home or office to decide whether or not you need them.  What I need is to declutter my day! An evaluation of what I really need to do and what I need to delete. Also, I should look into making regular tasks easier or automated and come up with a routine to stay on track with my plan.

Usually, I make lists of tasks and check them off when completed. (truth time: sometimes I write down tasks I’ve already completed, just so I can check them off.) Most importantly, what I need is to come up with a list of things not to do – like watching Dr. Pimple Popper videos – and things I can eliminate – like the online game.

Here’s the list I came up with:

1. Eliminate 90% of DVR recording settings. Hi. I’m a trash tv addict. I haven’t rock bottom yet.. but I’m getting there. I need to step back from the edge of that cliff. Does anyone really need to binge watch any show?

2. Checking FB throughout the day. Seriously, I’m not sure what the heck is going on with their “we’ll only show you what you’re interested in” algorithm, but 80% of what I get are things my elderly relatives have shared. Blinky Teddy Bears and crap like that. Everything I need to see is buried in the feed by 9 am. I don’t need to check it after that.

3. Political News sites. What a depressing morass they are full of people who seem determined to take their frustration out on each other. I’ll admit that I’m a news junkie, but who needs all that rabble-rousing? And does it really help? My time would be better spent actually working on things I care about, rather than just listening to others.

4. Turn off the ringer for our home phone. In the last year, one phone call has actually been for us. We are STILL getting calls for a local restaurant that changed its number but never updated anything online. You’d be amazed at the number of calls! We’ll keep the phone because it’s super useful when the cell phone goes missing, LOL!

5. Phone and email notifications. Those little suckers are designed to suck you right back into their social media platform. Turning them off will lessen those temptations.

6. Wasting time searching for the “perfect” anything. I’m not perfect. Neither is anyone else. Sometimes what others think is perfect, isn’t so much for you and what they think is perfect is not so much for you… looking for perfection is a huge time suck.

Keeping On Track

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Equally important to decluttering my day is structure. In the past, I’ve tried blocking out for tasks. This works well for many people. Unfortunately, not so much for me. Instead, I set up deadlines. If something isn’t done by the deadline, I make myself leave it and come back later. At this point, I’m hoping that this start training my brain to focus on the task for that time period.

I’ve been working with my  Living Well Planner all this past week to break down my goals and plan out what I need to concentrate on for the next two months to ensure they are done. I want to finish painting walls throughout the house and finally get all the pictures and wall decor out of boxes and on the walls. To do that, I’ve broken it down room by room and created deadlines for each room.

I’ve also been using it to block out distractions. My to-do list is sitting right next to me to remind me to stay off of the time-wasting list.

 

I’m sure there’s more, I could cut out… ideas?

 

Why did I choose the Living Well Planner? Read about here!