One simple trick to increase your happiness exponentially
Do you want to be happier? Of course you do! Who doesn't want to be happy? Well, there is one simple trick that you can use to help increase your happiness exponentially. And it's really easy to do! In this post, I will discuss what that trick is and how you can start using it today to improve your happiness levels.
I put my phone on Do Not Disturb from 6 PM till 7 AM the following day and close down my email/social media. It gives me time to focus without interruption for the last few hours of the day before I crawl into bed. Then in the morning, I wake up an hour before it ends, and I again have some time to myself before I get pulled in multiple directions by the demands of communication and news that comes in through my phone. Best of all, I can add a few numbers, like my parents and my husband, to a list of people that will ring through during that time giving me peace of mind that I am reachable if absolutely necessary.
Clifford Nass researches our behavior in the digital age. He writes that "we have scales that allow us to divide up people into people who multitask all the time and people who rarely do, and the differences are remarkable. People who multitask all the time can’t filter out irrelevancy. They can’t manage a working memory. They’re chronically distracted. They initiate much larger parts of their brain that are irrelevant to the task at hand…they’re pretty much mental wrecks.”
Mental wreck is a great way to describe how I felt about my brain before starting this habit. I found myself saying, "I want more time read. I want more time with my kids. I want more time to exercise." And taking this one simple step and putting my phone down leaves me with time to do all those things.
People are happier when they don't multitask. It gives me time to focus on the moment and be truly present with the people around me. It also allows me to work more effectively because I'm not pulled by all the alerts that come through my phone. This is why most productivity experts recommend leaving it behind for a little while. I didn't fully realize why though until now. Being attached to your phone/email at any time of day means your productivity is very limited. You can get quick tasks done, but never are afforded the time to go deeper or underneath the surface. And everyone needs some dedicated time to tap into those deeper and more creative ideas.
When I first started doing this experiment, it felt like an act of rebellion against the digital age we live in. But now, it feels more like self-care than anything else. My phone was controlling me instead of the other way around. It was an immediate attention grabber, leading me to believe that I needed to be attached to it to stay connected to my friends and family. I am more intentional about how and when I engage. And I use my time in the morning when I am most energetic on my own projects rather than freely giving my attention away.
Try it. Give yourself some do not disturb time each day and see what exponential results will come your way.