Tag: Tips and Tricks

Reduce Screen Time By Changing Your Downtime App

When given the chance to casually browse social media, what I’m recognizing in myself is that the time I’ll ultimately spend browsing is NOT created equally based on which app I choose.

In other words, if I have a pocket of time to go on my phone, one app can lead me to spend significantly more time than a different one. In my case, choosing FB or IG generally leads to far more media consumption than if I chose X or YT.

…And it’s not like my daily levels of willpower/self-discipline are radically changing. I suspect it has to do with the app’s algorithms and the way I interact with the apps. On FB and IG, I casually browse until I get sucked into one of those never ending reel rabbit holes. And let me be the first to admit, they’re damn addicting.

On X and YT, it’s just one video at a time. And I feel like I have a better grip on who/what I watch and can get closure with clear stops to the end of videos.

Since learning this about myself, I’ve turned insight into action and made this a part of my digital media consumption strategy. 95% of the time now, when I have a pocket of time, I’ll choose to browse X or YT because I know it’ll lead to less total consumption.

Now I pass the question off to you: which app do you feel sucks the most time from your day(s)? Do you feel like the time spent is equal regardless of the app? Or do you feel like it’s disproportionate like me?

P.s. The Screen Time widget helped me discover this.

Why I Don’t Have A Case On My Phone (For Now)

I’ve been using my phone without a case for the past few days.

While this might sound dumb to some, and while this isn’t something I’d exactly recommend doing, the reason is two fold:

1. It reminds me to be careful. Modern day phones are ex-pen-sive. And even just one drop could result in an expensive repair. Which I’m hyper aware of. Which I’ve realized is a hack opportunity into my own mind—because I can’t help but slow down when I grab my phone and am increasingly sensitive to where I put it when I’m not using it. Think surgeon picking up and putting down tools at the operating table. That’s me with my phone these past few days.

2. Being “full-of-care” is being simultaneously full of presence. I don’t think you can separate the one from the other. And presence is the antidote to the modern day drug that is distraction. Which, of course, is the drug that comes pouring out through our screens in unrelenting quantities. So by triggering “presence” whenever I reach for my phone, it’s almost as if I’m taking a shot of the antidote before exposing myself to the coinciding drug.

Like I said, this probably sounds dumb to some of you. And if you’re the clumsy type, I certainly wouldn’t recommend doing this.

But, maybe there’s another way you can encase your phone with a sort of “presence antidote” that can give you a similar sort of shot to help you combat the unrelenting distractions that are bound to eat up every bit of your time they can manage as soon as you unlock that screen.

Something worth carefully thinking about at least…

Before The Fact

Below a screenshot of my cell phone’s home screen (here’s the link if it doesn’t show):

…See that big ol’ Screen Time block at the bottom?

That’s an intentional effort of mine to increase my screen time awareness so that I can deliberately work to decrease my screen time usage.

Before, I would get one push notification each week summarizing my screen time averages—but it was after the fact... after the usage was done and all I could hope to do was be more aware the next week so as to reduce it before the next push notification was sent out.

And, as you might expect, this strategy didn’t really change much week to week.

But, ever since I added that big ‘ol Screen Time block to the bottom of my home screen, my screen time has dropped remarkably.

…And it’s all because I’m getting reminders before the fact.

Seth Godin once said that the best way to make any long term change is with enough short term feedback.

Most of what we do every day is already programmed into our lifestyle as habits. If we want to change that unconscious programming… we need to deliberately and proactively and creatively find ways to consciously remind ourselves to do those new things that go against our current unconscious programming.

Otherwise, the programming will prevail and we’ll keep looking back—after the fact—wondering why the heck nothing is changing.

P.s. Need help programming new habits into your life? My 30 day guide will help. Details here.

The Quarter Freezer Trick

Take a plastic cup of water and let it freeze in your freezer.

Then, put a quarter on top of the frozen water.

If you ever lose power, this little trick will show you whether the food in your freezer is still good or not.

…If the quarter is still on top or has only partially sunk—your food is likely still okay.

…If the quarter has sunk to the bottom, it means your food likely thawed to room or close to room temperature and should likely be tossed.

This was a fun little tip that I learned today that I thought would be fun to pass along to you.

P.s. In case you missed it, you can read the best of what I posted to MoveMe Quotes last week, here.

Unread Emails

I don’t know about you, but I have a ton of unread emails.

Mostly from blogs and people I subscribe to who send valuable, but non-urgent messages.

My current system is to read and reply to the urgent first, then start making my way down the non-urgent from newest to oldest.

This process has left me hovering between 800-1,000 non-urgent unread messages for what feels like years.

This week, however, I started a new process.

Instead of reading emails from the top of my inbox down… I’ve been sorting my inbox based on person or blog and reading all of the emails sent by them first… before going to the next person or blog and so on.

For example, this past week I read through all of my unread Daily Stoic emails and now I’m making my way down all of my unread Seth Godin emails.

This has been significantly more efficient because I don’t have to keep voice/tone/context changing as I read various messages from various people who are all writing in various different ways.

I can keep the same voice/tone/and context in mind and blast through a whole series of emails with much better retention and much less mental fatigue.

It’s like reading 20 pages of one book versus reading one page of 20 different books. The difference is remarkable.

Would recommend.

P.s. Know someone who might enjoy getting these emails? This is me kindly asking if you’d forward an email you liked to a person who you think would like it, too. Thanks 🙂

How To Get A 200%+ Return On Investment With Your Time

I went to bed early last night.

About an hour earlier than usual.

And what never ceases to amaze me is how much more productive I feel, how much better my self-control is, and how much clearer my mindset presents—all from just a one hour investment.

Which is exactly what we should be looking at going to bed earlier as.

As discussed in yesterday’s piece, more awake hours ≠ more productivity / more joy / more living—per se. It’s more quality hours (not quantity) that leads to that.

And what I’m noticing in my own life, today particularly, is that the move from 7 hours of sleep to 8 hours causes more good in awareness, clarity, and productivity than the move from 8 hours of sleep to 7 hours causes good in extending length to “do more stuff.“

In other words, let’s say an hour less of sleep causes a 12.5% dip in general functionality across the board (if eight hours = 100% recharge, then one hour = 12.5% of that recharge).

That 12.5% dip then affects the rest of my 17 hours in the day that I’m awake.

And a 12.5% reduction (in awareness, clarity, and productivity) over 17 hours amounts to 2.125 hours in total lost time (17 x .125 = 2.125 hours)!

So, how do you get a 200%+ return on investment with your time…?

Go to bed an hour earlier.

P.s. I also published: A Wise Woman’s Advice To A Young Man Whose Life Was “Full Of Pain” [Excerpt]

Cancel Them All

A modern day savings trick in a world obsessed with subscriptions: cancel them all… and obsess over one at a time.

This is a trick I’ve been applying to my own life as of late.

Netflix, Disney +, Paramount +, HBO/Max, Showtime, Hulu, Peacock… each service makes you believe you’re missing out if you aren’t subscribed to them. And they do this by advertising the heck out of their blockbuster (oh, the irony) shows, creating irresistible offers, and making you feel like their service will give you access to the media that most of your friends will be talking about.

The reality is… it’s all media brainwashing.

You don’t need all of them all at once—it’s preposterous to even consider how many options that gives you access to when it actually comes time to sit down and pick something to watch.

No.

It’s time to take a new approach.

One that’s not only better for decision making, but for your wallet, too.

That’s right: cancel them all and obsess over one at a time.

And when you’re out of options on the one (if ever), cancel that service and switch to another. The beauty of the hyper competitive subscription space is that you can almost always cancel anytime with no fees and the other services will roll out the red carpet to get you back.

Wash; rinse; save; repeat.