Serenity Now — Disconnect to Regain Control

Disconnect in order to connect

At the modern world, the technology aims to make our life easier, and it does; however, is our life more effective? In my view, after having experience of 20+ years as an adult, it may not be the whole truth.

We are exposed to an endless stream of distractions since we’re always connected. Our mobile device wants our attention desperately, and we, on the other hand, give him love back.

Moreover, if you work at a corporate environment, there are lots of other non-technology distractions that keep us away from achieving our goal — completing the task list.

This kind of distractions includes abrupt chats, coffee breaks, never-ending meetings, or just two peers talking loudly in the cubical next to you.

At the end of the day, our brain is similar to a computer’s CPU. We can work on one task only at any given time. However, unlike CPU that can easily shift between tasks, our context-switching process have some ‘cost’ of losing time or efficiency, and thus our performance degrades upon interruptions.

So, what is my suggestion? Disconnect. Literally.

Cut off the time you are connected; switch off your mobile data or WiFi connections; you will have more time to execute your task list.
As simple as that.
Yes, it might be scary to be disconnected for a couple of hours, but hey, that’s what happens when you are on an aeroplane, isn’t it?

This act will allow you to concentrate and focus on specific tasks you really wanted to get done with. Tick your to-do list items one by one.

Hopefully, you will find yourself in a flow state, super-focused and effective. You will have such a sense of accomplishment when you’re done!

Try it. It’s like going back in time, but it is effective; and who knows, you might get addicted to your ‘disconnected’ mode. 😉

— Lior