Rediscover Face To Face

I used to work in an office, where I literally used to email the person sitting next to me. The thing is, it’s not productive. Our concentration span is broken, so we don’t work as effectively as misunderstandings or clarifications, that would take a second in real time, take light years in cyberspace. Limit your emailing to the absolutely imperative, and try and do things face to face. Have a coffee with someone to discuss your projects, get back to the time of the water cooler chat. Emailing someone to ask how their weekend was really isn’t going to do anything for the office vibe.

Save Yourself With Technology

I have little discipline, and I use technology to help me overcome that. Focus Booster limits my emailing time to 5 minutes every half an hour. Just download the little program, and it will give you a bell when your computer ‘free time’ comes up. According to the Fortune article, there’s a program called RescueTime which will break down where all your computer minutes go. Now that would be a scary read.

Put The IPhone Away

I do it too. I leave my iPhone on the table. Why do I do that? There is nothing, and I mean nothing, interesting enough to call me away from whatever conversation I’m having in real life. I check my Facebook while someone goes to the toilet. It’s a crutch for those of the short attention span, and those of us who are convinced everyone else is having a better time than we are. So why not start having a good time (or paying attention in that important meeting you’re having?) by keeping your iPhone out of line of sight.

Have Boundaries

As someone who is self-employed, I don’t really have much down time. Like, days off aren’t really something that figure high on the ol’ agenda. But I make my life so much harder by never switching off at all. I check my emails until my eyes close. I answer them at the pub (baaaaad idea) or while watching TV. Set some e-time, and some real time. Don’t check your emails over breakfast, or have a morning tea without any digital surroundings. Don’t have your devices next to your bed. One day, I’ll follow my own advice and I can guarentee my work life will be the better for it. And maybe my real life too.

Multitasking Slows You Down

Yep, you can juggle. Of course you can. But every thing you do is just a little less focused because of it. Fortune suggests having a maximum of five tabs open on your browser won’t limit you, but also won’t overwhelm you. I also suggest not getting push notifications from IM or Twitter. Take it one task at a time, give it your full attention, and you will do a better (and quicker) job.

You may be umming and ahhring about whether to purchase an iPad or other tablet device. This year my husband and I had two separate holidays for a bucks and hens-this was the point when I really found my iPad was the best item to have on holidays.

Going on an aeroplane

Whilst more budget airlines are moving their transit routes to more international destinations, the lower price tag comes with lower conditions. When we were looking into flights to Thailand (which still is over 10 hours) the budget ones came with no entertainment. This could be purchased at extra cost which by the time you factored it in you might as well gone on the more expensive carriers. Alternatively you can use your iPad. Load it up with movies and TV shows which will get you through the trip.

Road Trip

When I was younger we used to load the card up every Christmas and travel to Surfers Paradise. This was ten-twelve gruelling hours as a young child. My parents constantly had to be turning around and yelling at my brother and I who would play up because we were bored. If your car is not fitted with those DVD players, again you can load it up for the kids to entertain themselves in the backseat.

Books, Books and more Books

I am an avid reader especially on holidays when I am lazing about. What happens though because I flick through a book every day I end up with a suitcase load of books. And I don’t like to throw them out so on one extended trip I shipped back a whole box-this equates to a very expensive pastime. Now when I am holidays I just download a whole heap onto my iPad. And whilst some you have to pay for (which generally are less expensive then buying in the shops) there is a wide collection of free books.

Wi-fi

Have you ever spent your time waiting in a lobby for the one computer available to be on offer, only then to find you have to pay exorbitant amounts for 10 minutes of net surfing. Most hotels now offer either free wi-fi or a reasonably priced wi-fi package for your stay. This means you can use your iPad to connect in the comfort of your own room. It also is a lot more convenient then bringing along your laptop.

Entertainment

When we were in Amsterdam and fell sick from a late night booze binge we had to spend the whole day in the confines of our room. More importantly we had a whole day of watching weird Netherlands TV (all I can remember is a repetitive TV ad of a man hitting another man with a fry pan repeatedly saying “scnhell”-still not sure what that means). If you have your own entertainment loaded onto your iPad or access to unlimited Wi-fi you can escape the abnormalities of foreign tv.

Facetime

Have you ever been away only to return home to a phone bill which has hundreds of dollars in international calls you made to friends and family? On one trip my husband’s phone bill was racked up to over $600. We avoided phone calls when he went away in the middle of the year and instead used face time. Not only was this nice because we could see each other on the screen but it was also free-all you need is Wi-fi.