There are a ton of websites that are dedicated to the hack, the short cut, the magical cure to "not having enough time. SPOILER ALERT, there is no such thing. Unless you are into some deep physics or you believe in a different universe than time is the same for all of us. So how do leaders, or anyone for that matter "make time" for anything new? Well we have talked about routine before and we have touched on habits as well but one thing that we have not looked at is what are those leaders doing with their time. If you google habits of leaders you will get a ton of sources that talk about pretty much all of the same things:
While you will eventually learn that multi tasking is not possible there is a way for you to combine two activities, one that is on auto pilot... like walking, taking the bus, sitting in the back seat of your chauffeured car (thanks mom and dad) and one that is beneficial like either reading the good old fashioned way or what I do to "make time" for reading. Right now while you are reading this, take out your phone, open your app store and download Blinkist and Headway. These two apps summarize a book a day for free. Usually under 15 minutes, you will get a totally random choosing from these companies. If you like the apps you can upgrade obviously, but 15 minutes of free learning giving you someone else's thoughts to add to your own is an easy way to adopting a habit that all great leaders have. "Never stop learning." How's that for "making time" Richard Hortness
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The power of technology to me is insane. You can walk down the street and almost everyone will have a phone or laptop on them no matter where you go. When looking at old movies such as “Back to the Future” everyone assumed we’d have flying cars or robots and although that seems pretty cool I sure as hell am glad we don’t have those things yet. I think that we should take a step back and fix the dangers before we take 2 steps forward and make more technology. Now don’t get me wrong, I love my phone but sometimes I can’t help but think about how different my life would be without it. One of my biggest problems with technology is how hard it is to put it down once you’ve picked it up. It’s very often that when I find myself trying to complete homework or do other tasks I get easily distracted by my phone and always end up on it. The drawback with this is that technology or not, my biggest problem is already procrastinating on things and it seems as though my phone and procrastination are the best toxic duo. I will try to do homework and once I get notifications on my phone from friends I suddenly lose all interest in my work, my attention span shortens, and all my focus goes towards my phone. Now if I give into those impulses and pick up my phone, the next time I look at a clock or put my phone back down will be 2 hours later. I find this happens because once I open my phone and check those messages I’ll get sight of other apps and want to use them as well. If I don’t give into those urges and continue to work, with each message I get my work ethic goes down. As this is such a big problem for me and I have lost a lot of time from my phone, here are some of the best ways I've found to be able to do work without my phone as a distraction:
Not only does technology and social media affect my worst habit of procrastination, it can also majorly affect mental health which not enough people realize. As of right now, there are 850 million users on Tiktok and 1 billion users on Instagram and i’ve noticed the majority of those users we see when scrolling are influencers. While some influencers create content purely based on entertainment, a lot of the time there are influencers who will only post or talk about their ‘perfect’ life moments which can change what we viewers consider to be normal. These media can easily affect our self esteem, body image, and self worth and I think that is why it’s often that young people have started to feel pressured when posting on and using social media. A study in the UCLA Brain Mapping Center showed that social media has become so addictive that when posting, our brains can react to the ‘likes’ or comments we receive on those posts, which actually makes us want to post more. With posting pressures and cyberbullying it’s no surprise that depression and anxiety have been found to commonly link with social media. Mental health and wellness are extremely important so here are some ways to positively use social media that can help reduce anxiety:
https://www.helpguide.org/articles/mental-health/social-media-and-mental-health.htm https://www.forbes.com/sites/pragyaagarwaleurope/2018/07/30/5-ways-to-overcome-online-social-media-fatigue-for-mental-well-being/?sh=593d4fbe1cfa Avery R Let me indulge you for a moment. Think of a song that “brings back memories” and go listen to it. Now think about how that made you feel. When you listened to that song, could you see your surroundings? Could you hear the atmosphere? Could you feel the sensation of that moment? It's fascinating how music has the power to encapsulate a moment in time, allowing us to retrieve stored memories with just a few minutes worth of lyrics and melody. A couple of years ago I went on a trip to the South Pacific and Hawaii with my mom, my sister, my aunts and my Nani (grandmother). Every night while we were in Hawaii, we would all go for a nice stroll after dinner to observe the sights and beautiful scenery of Waikiki. The streets were crowded with lots of people so my sister and I would hold my Nani’s hand so that we could help her walk safely among the crowd. As we walked around, we would hear music being played by many of the restaurants, local shops, and hotel lobbies. I particularly remember a familiar song called Billie Jean by Michael Jackson being played outside a restaurant as we walked by. When I hear that song now I am instantly transported back to that time; I can see the smile on her face while I held her hand and I can feel the joy radiating from her while she walked alongside her family in Hawaii. This memory is very special to me because 3 months ago my Nani passed away and all I have left are the memories of the time I spent with her. It happened very unexpectedly and it has been a difficult time accepting her loss. I would never have thought of this as such a special moment until I recently heard this song again, and I could vividly relive the good time we had in the streets of Hawaii once again.
Even though there was a language barrier between us, music was one of the things that could always bring us together. I am afraid that my memories will fade but I know that everytime I hear the song I will be transported back to that time and I will be able to indulge in those moments. “Music is a total constant. That's why we have such a strong connection to it. Because a song can take you back instantly to a moment, or a place, or even a person. No matter what else has changed in you or the world, that one song stays the same, just like that moment.” Brianna J |
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