One of the rather poor habits that I have picked up about my early morning routines is that I have become largely dependent on my "Smartphone" to make it happen.
It started innocently enough of course: I had an app that I used in the morning as part of my routine. So I started reaching for it there. The next thing I found, I had added another app. Then I started checking my mail. Then I started just "looking" at the blog in the morning, and one or two other things. The next thing I knew, I found that I was picking up the phone right after the Bible and prayer and not putting it down for 30-40 minutes.
All of that is fine, of course, except what I found is that it was becoming a crutch for putting off the work I really needed to be doing: Journaling. Thinking carefully about what I was going to write for this blog. Exercise. That sort of thing.
Which I had sort of learned to live with and work around (not well) - until last week one of the rather ubiquitous "X ways to improve your life" floated across Instaphoto. The first suggestion: Dump your smartphone for the first 60 minutes of your day.
Well, hello perfectly good idea that I had started with and then given up on because I was, well, "Trying to get more done". Which sounds a lot like lazy.
So this week I have started doing it. Perhaps somewhat (not) surprisingly, I am already finding my focus more clear and my writing a little less awful. And also, I suddenly seem to have an addition of time that I was not previously aware of.
Not that the time somehow magically reappeared. It was always there. It was how I was choosing to use the time that made it less available. And not that this things were complete time wasters - it was just that they were of less value than other things.
There is a point - and one that is somehow just slightly buried here that I have to try and understand it - that just because something is a little bit easier to perform and is perhaps even somewhat worthy of being pursued, it is not necessarily the best and highest use of our time.
And sometimes, it is as simple as just putting something aside for a little while.
It is surprising how a daily habit becomes a ritual of 'Needs to be Done Always Like THIS'. My daily prayers are begun before I even roll out of bed and on my feet to get dressed. I used to begin these prayers when driving in to work, which takes approximately 20 minutes. But as they became larger and more people - events became focused, it takes longer so is why I start the way they do.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. And it is funny how set in our ways we can be about things that we not out of requirement but our own preference.
DeleteGood description of the "inch by inch by inch" process along with recognizing it and administering a remedy. A beginning addiction can be hard to deal with, look at all the folks walking across a street concentrating on their hand with their head down, in the traffic lane.....oh my!
ReplyDeleteNylon12 - I know enough about myself that I can have an addictive personality if not careful. I simply need to become more aware - and less dependent.
DeleteI have made the switch to catching up on blogs first thing in the morning while it is dark and kids are asleep and the things I want to do can’t be done yet. It seems more efficient than doing it later in the morning when I could be doing other things. But unlike you, reading a bible or writing blog posts aren’t something I typically do early in the morning. I usually do those things after all my other work is done, my body is tired, but my brain still active.
ReplyDeleteEd, I am trying to find the right balance. For me, the meditative portions of my day (including writing) are best in the morning, although I am not sure why that is. It never seems quite as effective later in the day. On the other hand, I can fit blog postings in through nooks and crannies in the day.
DeleteI tried to do some habit changing last month, and it didn't take. Time to work that in again. Seems my morning rituals are pretty ingrained. Especially since I have to do therapy twice a day now.
ReplyDeleteFunny that I was lying in bed when I first read this post! I usually wake well before my husband and in an effort to keep from waking him, I reach for my phone and do a variety of things. The first thing I do in the morning is walk and of course I need (ha) my phone with me for several reasons. Upon returning, I should check my email for possible prayer requests, then set it aside for the next 30-45 minutes. But I seldom do. - Kelly (I can only comment here anonymously now)
ReplyDeleteSTxAR - I constantly have to go back and fine tune mine. I find that my sleep the night before greatly influences how adherent I am the next morning.
ReplyDeleteKelly - Apologies for the anonymity, still working through this new "Issue".
ReplyDeleteI am certainly a user of the smart phone. That said, I am also much of a jackdaw - "Look, shiny object!". I am trying to see if delaying its use helps me to focus overall.
My husband always said about me 'oh, look, string!' as I would go off on another project, idea, tangent etc. Maybe your moment of "We are done here" is what your seeing in the unsettling of a family event, rearrangement of your time and paying attention to items you would have brushed over prior to it.
ReplyDeleteI commented on a couple of post and blogger has eaten them.
GlassLass - My apologies for the comment eating. It happens to me as well - what I end up having to do is restart the browser.
ReplyDeleteI think in some ways you are very correct - there comes a moment where things that we would have overlooked in the past can no longer be overlooked and must be dealt with. And usually in that case, "dealing with them" means being done with them.