Learn strategies to bring intention and focus into your digital life. Leverage the power of technology, social networks, and smart phones without wasting time and getting constantly interrupted and distracted. It's possible. Ready to be in command of your own life?
Meet your Teacher
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
Transcript
Good morning Polly, Good morning everybody. Nice way to start the class, Thank you. I love singing balls. Good morning Caria, Good morning Sara, Good morning Rosa. Happy Thursday everybody. Good morning Beth. Good morning from Brooklyn, New Jersey. Oh no, My cat is crying because he's locked in. Just give me a second, Can I open the door? He normally sleeps on the bed all the time, But today he wants out. How are you guys doing today? Thank you for being here everybody. Hi CJ, You have a cat too Caria? Yeah, It's nice to have cats around. He sleeps pretty much all day. Easy going. So today's topic is Digital Minimalism. And I would like to hear what your frustrations are around Digital Minimalism. So that we can focus this class or this session towards what you guys share. Because there are so many different angles. And I have some ideas to share with you guys, But I'm also very curious to know ideas that you may be using. Hi from Switzerland. Frustrations that you may be experiencing and that you may be looking for strategies to cope with. And then we can all as a group kind of like brainstorm ideas together. But I do have some things that I do myself and some things that I have read and I have learned in these past years. Hi from Santa Fe, Susan. So it's important, When we talk about digital life, That includes different things, OK? That includes your cell phones and all the connectivity that you have with that device. That includes your tablet if you have one. That includes your laptop if you have one. And all the software that you have in that laptop and the services that you use. That includes a desktop if you have one. Hello Emilio, Making great progress in cleaning clutter. Thank you. Amazing, Lenore. Thank you for letting me know. It's nice to hear. And feel free to share what's working for you, OK? So that other people can see it, Can read it. So all the things that digital life includes, It's your TV if you have one. Access to Netflix, Access to cable, Access to video games. So pretty much any activity that requires a digital device, That's actually your digital life. That's a part of your digital life, OK? So when I think about my digital life and I think about what's working for me and what's frustrating me. For example, What's working for me is the convenience of being able to do my business from anywhere. OK, That's really convenient. The convenience of having access to everything that I need from one device. That's very convenient, Right? If I need to play squash and I need to work a chord, I go to my phone and I do it. If I need to do a banking transaction, I go to my phone and I do it. Before I had to go to the bank, I had to do that personally. So it saves me a lot of time. OK, So those are all the calendar that I share with my wife. That's beautiful. Frustrations. Frustrations is that if I don't set a strong intention, Sometimes I spend way more time than I want. Sometimes I get distracted way more times than I would like to because I'm not being specific. I'm not being intentional about how I use my phone. And if I don't set healthy boundaries and follow them, The phones are really well designed to get you addicted to them. So that's a struggle that I have. So I would like to listen to what struggles do you guys have and what's working for you when it comes to digital. OK, So Rosa says, I'm struggling with technology addiction before I sleep and it's interrupting my sleep cycle. Rosa, Amazing. Great awareness. Thank you for sharing. Sara says, It's finding the balance between taking care of business and having pleasure. Absolutely. Self-care and designing your ideal week. That's what really works for you, Rosa. We were facing that, My wife and I, Many years ago. And what we decided to do is we got an old fashioned alarm clock that we have. And then we put our phones in a charging station in the living room. So we put them there at nighttime in silence and then we don't look at the phones until the next morning. So we don't have our phones by the bedside table anymore because we were finding ourselves doing that. If you guys have any other strategies for Rosa, For example, To avoid phones interrupting your sleep, Feel free to share it in the chat. OK, Sara, Amazing. I love Liz says, Newsletters. I get a lot of petitions from environmental groups I want to sign. I don't want to unsubscribe because it's important to me to support these groups. But it takes over. I also set up separate accounts for these emails, But now I never check that one because it's only these types of emails. Liz, I'm with you. I also created a specific email account just for subscriptions because I was getting overwhelmed with the amount. And what I do now, You have to set the intention of maybe once a day, Once a week, Twice a week, Once a month, However frequency. Put a reminder on your calendar to take a specific subscription from a specific group. And that way you are allowing yourself intentional time. You can go to the email and search by that specific email and only see those emails. And then you can take action. That's one idea. That's what I do sometimes. I subscribe, For example, Someone mentioned here the fly lady technique. So I subscribe yesterday to the emails to see what they offer. And I'm getting a lot of emails, By the way. Like yesterday I got like 13 emails from them. But again, It's going to that inbox. It doesn't bug me. I don't check it every day. And then when I have intentional time to check, I will go, I will filter by that specific email address. And then I will do something about that specific email. OK, So Rosa says, I like the tool of screen time on the iPhone to block apps. That's another option. That's great. Rosa, Just curious, How do you feel about leaving your phone outside of your bedroom? Does that give you like anxiety? Is that something that is doable for you? Like, How do you feel about it? So Katja says feeling connected. Amy says good morning. Technology addiction. An hour or two goes by mindlessly. Shopping. I don't buy anything. I just scroll. Amy, Great awareness. Again, It's really nice that you are aware of it. So what would you like to see happening? Would you like to do something different? When you are doing that kind of shopping without shopping, That kind of browsing, Like, Do you enjoy doing that process? Or do you feel frustrated after? And if you were not to do that, What would you do instead? Do you have any other ideas? Because this is something like we all have behaviors and we all have routines that if we can understand them. And we can substitute them with something that also gives us joy and it's also pleasurable for us. It may be easy for us to stop spending time on the device if that's what we choose to do. And again, This is really, Guys, This is all about you and what you want to do. No one here is going to tell you stop using your phone. Do this. Do that. No, You know how you use your phone. You know your own frustrations and you know your own boundaries. So you have to own, However, Whatever you are feeling. OK. And if you're feeling frustration, You are feeling overwhelmed, You are feeling something that doesn't feel aligned with you. That's when these strategies can help you test a different way. But this is not something that I don't like when someone tells someone, Dude, Just leave your phone at home. That's the solution. Or don't do this or don't do that. But that doesn't work for everybody the same way. So Kelvin says, What works for me Emilio? I have all my apps in categories and all on one page. I use a sunrise alarm instead of the phone alarm. Amazing Kelvin. I like that. I also have folders to organize my apps. It really helps. And I keep my phone switched off. Amazing. So that's a good strategy. You use a different alarm. You don't use your phone as an alarm clock. So you don't have the temptation of checking notifications. Your phone is not vibrating or blinking light or making noises. Or just by having it by your bedside table. We are just curious to check if we are awake. If we wake up in the middle of the night, We are bored. We may just, Oh, But the phone is right here. I will just check it, Right? If we don't have it right there, You may do something different. So that's why sometimes it's nice to try different things. So Violet says, I teach a computer class part time and work with health information IT. So I'm always on a computer or smartphone and I love it. But I do get lost on articles and social media a lot. Great awareness Violeta. Thank you for sharing. So what would you, What ideas come to mind for you Violeta? And please, Anybody else, Feel free to join in for Violeta. What ideas come to mind for her to avoid getting lost in articles and social media a lot? For me, One of the things that I have is I have a timer on my on my wrist here that I may use. Or I have kitchen timers so you can use the Pomodoro technique that is setting intentional time, Like 15 to 20 minutes intervals. And then you can do a specific task. And if your if your intention is to I want to read articles or I want to get lost on social media. That's fine. Just set a limit that feels good to you. Maybe it's 20 minutes. Maybe it's one hour. Maybe it's 10 minutes. Maybe it's five minutes. And then just do that. And before going to social media, If you don't want to get lost, Then think what do I want to do right now? Sometimes I go to social media because I want to post. Sometimes I go to social media because I want to take a specific person or business. So there is a specific intentional action behind me going to social media. So it's important to ask yourself, Why am I picking up my device and what am I going to do? OK, And why? And if your intention is to just get lost because you just want to get lost and you don't have a specific intention, That's good too. But just be intentional about not being intentional and just set a limit that feels good to you. So Kelvin says, In terms of Internet, I have blocked sites so I can block sites that may distract me. YouTube, Newspapers, Netflix, Etc. Then when I want to watch, I can unlock. Great idea. If it's working for you, That's a great strategy. Kelvin, That's good. Rosa says, I feel like I'm missing out on important things, But I feel like I should be able to put off things. I guess I'm struggling with sleeping and it's a vicious cycle. Rosa, I had the same will be up still all hours on the phone. I know I now switch my phone off at 11 p. M. And I keep the phone on the other side of the room. Yeah, I used to use my phone moderately. Then we disconnected the house phone line. Now I carry the cell phone with me most of the time. I spend lots more time responding to notifications. I'm playing a favorite game. Catherine, Thank you for sharing. So, Guys, For those of you, Fear of missing out is real. OK, Fear of missing out is something that we all have. And all the platforms, Especially social media, They are designed to make you feel that. They are designed to make you feel that if you are not there enough time, You're going to miss out important things. You're going to stay out of the loop. And why do they want that? It's pretty sad when you understand why they are trying to keep you hooked in there, Because they are trying to do that because they want you to stay there as long as possible so that you can see more ads, So that they can target you, They can lend your behavior, What you like, What you don't like, What you click on. And then based on all that information, They are going to start showing you apps, Ads, Showing you things that you may like. So there is a very good documentary on Netflix called The Social Dilemma that I was watching the other day. And it was it was very eye opening. And I mean, I kind of knew some of it, But it goes really deep into the reasoning behind social media and how all these services are free for us. But they are not really free. They really gain a lot of information from us. So when it comes to the fear of missing out, It's really important to really become aware that we will never be able to keep up. OK, So for those of you who have Netflix or who has cable with like a hundred channels, Like is your expectation to be able to watch every single programming or every single channel every day? Yes. Yes. Tell me in the in the chat. I suggested a couple of other suggestions. Limit to three articles. The Social Dilemma. Thank you, Amy. So, Guys, Are you expecting when you have a cable subscription or you have Netflix, Are you expecting to be able to watch every programming on every channel every day? Is that your expectation or do you do you embrace the idea and accept that you are going to miss out? And do you feel comfortable with that idea? This is just one example. OK, If you have cable or you have Netflix. If you cannot consume all the content that they produce, Do you feel OK with that or do you feel that anxiety that you are missing out? I have favorite shows. Yes. Comfortable with that. OK. Is anyone feeling like anxiety because they are they are missing out? This is normal, Guys. This is normal. It's not something strange. It's not something strange because when it comes to social media, You will never be able to keep up. You will never be able to watch every single post. You will never be able to see who likes, Who doesn't like. It's just it's just endless. The Internet era has made information overload endless, Infinite. So there is no way that we can catch up with anything. It's just impossible. That's why we need to embrace and accept that first. And this is what the majority of us sometimes struggle with. Fear of missing out. And that's real. That's really real. And when we are in that state, We may experience anxiety because we are missing out. And there is something important that we are going to miss. We can experience overwhelm. Like you try to embrace everything, Digest everything and you just your mind just can't process all of that. There are so many emotions that can come up for you. Right. So let me see. The same reason the market sugar to kids, Even with kid diabetes rates soaring. They only care about money. Yeah. Unfortunately, We live in a capitalist environment. So money is normally the driving factor for for my ideal businesses. And that's that's the way it is. Hi. That's the key for me to embrace what I'm missing out on. Yes, Anxiety built Kelvin. Emilia found TV shows on Netflix to distracting. You finish one series, Then you get recommendations. So I don't watch any TV show on Netflix. Kelvin, That's great. Do you know what we do? We do have Netflix. But my idea of the times we go to the library and we just get all fashion movies and stuff from there. And it really works because one of the things that my wife and I experience is the decision fatigue of choosing what are we going to watch? Because there are so many options out there. Sometimes we are struggling deciding what to watch. And 40 minutes go by and we haven't even get started yet. So it's nice to have something to have the intention of I'm going to watch this show. I'm going to watch this movie. And that's it. I'm not going to get distracted by anything else. Right. And some other days you may be on exploring mode and you will say, Today I'm going to spend 15 minutes or 20 minutes just exploring new shows that I may enjoy watching. And that's your intention. So now you're going to sit on your couch and you're going to be exploring, Watching trailers, Or maybe you do that on your computer. And that feels more aligned to you. Right. Again, It's always finding the intention behind what we do. With streaming services, It's almost all available when we want. Catherine, Absolutely. Rosa, I feel anxiety, But I feel like I should pick the few important things. I just get carried away by binge watching and miss other things in my life. Amazing, Rosa. That's great awareness. So again, Starting to prioritize the things that you want to see in your life that you may be neglecting now. That can help you get started setting different intentions. And this is not something that is going to change overnight. Okay. Try to start making small changes, A progressive change every day, A bit more, A bit more. And then it's very important to find other activities that are going to substitute the time that we spend on screens. If we don't have activities that we are looking forward to doing outside of screens and devices, It's very difficult to get out of them because the devices provide so much entertainment, Fun. It's very convenient. It's very mindless. So it's very easy to just grab your phone and spend three hours in there doing thousands of things. Right. So if you don't have an activity that claims your attention a little bit that you are looking forward to doing, It's easy to just stay on your phone. So finding hobbies, Finding revisiting all things that you used to do, Exercising, Social time, Building something with your hands, Fixing something in your house, Reading a real book, Whatever. Like, I don't know, There are so many things that you can do. Know if I miss your classes, Grateful to be able to see them at a later time. Library has DVDs. They also have canopy films option. Yeah. Canopy is another system that we use sometimes. It's a bit more limited, But you have a lot of options. Even making time for later is a challenge for me. Yeah. So, Becca, I feel your pain because I it's funny because I'm having the last few months. I have noticed that myself because I wanted to do so many things and be so productive in so many areas. And I was generally I was doing this to do this. I was trying to do a lot. And I realized that I, I was trying to do too much. And I never saw that later didn't exist because I have way too much things to do that time. So I had to get scale back. And for me, What's working now is to to just have two to three main things that I do and then maintain the rest. I'm not neglecting anything, But I'm not trying to do a thousand things, A thousand new things because I am realistic. And I know that is not the way to go for me right now. It doesn't feel aligned for me right now. So I'm just focusing on two or three things and try to do them really well. I don't know if that resonates with you, But again, Look inside, Becca, See what what's inside of you, See what you feel can help you set a different intention. And then start doing that. Start testing it and see how it feels. Beth says, I don't feel the anxiety of missing out on Netflix, But I do feel that that way about insight timing. I want to listen to live sessions all day long. Beth, That's me too. Sometimes I get involved in two or three courses at once and then I want to do them all at once. But I don't have enough time to assimilate all the concepts, Do all the practices. And then sometimes I notice that I become impatient. I just don't do the practice full on because I'm not I'm not patient enough. I'm not like, I need to be doing the other one. I'm wasting my time. So that's an interesting feeling and an awareness, Right? Like and sometimes I just tend to don't do anything. Then I don't do anything because it feels too overwhelming. So, Yeah, I can relate to that. There are live sessions all the time and they are all good. The majority of them are really good. So it's probably difficult sometimes to disconnect because you are going to miss something out that is going to be good. So this is a legitimate feeling. It's easy to procrastinate with technology. To procrastinate other things because you have technology. That's what you are trying to say, Rosa. Amy says, I'm avoiding medical paperwork, Testing bills, Et cetera. Living with a chronic illness is a full time job. I get overwhelmed and get stuck in the addiction of online scrolling. I also want to write a book. Timers don't work. I can stick to the timing and I don't know why. So frustrating. So, Amy, If you cannot stick with the timer, Try something different. Try a different strategy. Maybe move to a different environment where distractions are not there. Maybe leave your phone in a different room for an hour or two. And then that's your writing time. That's the time that you are allowing yourself to create a new habit. For example, I don't know. Any other ideas, Guys, For Amy to be able to set the intention to don't get distracted scrolling and to be able to write her book? So, Becca, What do I mean by maintaining the rest? For me, Maintaining the rest is maintaining what's important. So I have to cook every other day. I have to do my garbage at home. I have to I have to create a course that I'm doing for Inside Timer. So I have to do specific lessons every two or three days. I have to take my course classroom on Inside Timer to make sure I answer my questions from students. I have to do my live sessions twice a week and I have to prepare them. So that's maintaining because that's something that happens on a weekly basis. I have time allocated to reading new books every week. So I allow myself like normally half an hour to one hour just reading something new so that I can get inspired by other people, Get new topics for lives and also myself keep growing. So those are the things that I maintain, Right? And then I have a list. I have my I have to take care of my daughter. So I have my ideal week that reflects all of those things. I also play squash on a weekly basis at least two or three times. I go to yoga three times a week. Try to. So those things are maintaining because they happen every week. But then what happens in between? That's when I try not to cram a thousand things in there because I know it doesn't work for me. At least not now. OK, So. So in patience with the abundance and not fully committed to any one thing, How do you manage the Alleluia? Becca, Sometimes it's difficult. You have to accept. And for me, Sometimes it's just doing nothing. I know it sounds crazy, But sometimes I don't listen to anything because when I feel that way, I need to do something with myself. I need to I need to be OK doing nothing. I need to relearn how to be OK doing nothing because everything that we need to know, It's already inside of us. We just have to connect with ourselves. So it's very nice to be involved with other people, For sure. But when that becomes a burden, When that becomes overwhelming, When that's causing you anxiety, When that's triggering you in ways that you cannot control. The best way that I find that I can control that is by practicing self-care, Doing activities that I like and bring me energy, Disconnecting, Slowing down, Slowing down and being present. Guys, Be in present. OK, That's what works for me, Being present and learning to enjoy everything that I do. So if I'm doing a life, I try to enjoy that. If I'm making myself a coffee, I try to enjoy that. If I'm doing the dishes, I try to enjoy that and be in the present moment. Sometimes it's not easy and sometimes I cannot do it, But that's what I try to do. So Rosa said, Try the Pomodoro method, Amy. I think Amy said that timers don't work for her. So maybe the Pomodoro is not a great idea. Amy, I would say, Question why you have so much resistance to that Pomodoro technique, Question yourself why you are facing so much resistance about timers. What's coming up for you? And do a mirror work session with yourself. Just look at yourself in the eyes and say, What's happening when I try to use a timer? Because most likely what's coming up is probably some sort of emotion around control. Maybe you don't want to feel restricted. Maybe you have to face writing and maybe you are afraid of not doing it right. Or maybe you are afraid of not being good enough. Maybe you are afraid of like allowing yourself the time to do something, But then the results are not what you expect. So perfectionism is showing up. What's showing up for you? Why can't you just have a timer and follow it? Again, I'm not saying that you have to use a timer. I'm just inviting you to explore what's happening there. Okay? So Amy, Can you switch the phone off or put it on silence while you do what you need to do? Yeah, Kelvin, That's a great idea. And I would like to know what Amy thinks about that. Amy, I'm trying to flip my schedule and get up super early before the phone starts going, Etc. So last week I cleaned out an email that had 160, 000 unread emails in that to 1, 000. Wow, Lisa, How did you do that? I unsubscribed from all most of the newsletters I don't read. Lisa, Curious to know how did you go down from 160 to 1, 000 emails? Like, Did you use a specific software for that or did you just go one by one? Like, I'm curious to know. So have you tried using February Music Song? Beth, Relearn being okay with doing nothing. That's exactly what I needed to hear. Yeah, Beth, That was that's still very difficult for me to do sometimes. And I find myself getting in this racing racing thoughts of, Oh, I can do this, I can do that, I have time. And then I see myself, My voice accelerates, My breathing accelerates and everything starts to like, And then I notice like, Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, Whoa. Okay, Breathe. Okay, Slow down. And then it's like, You have to do nothing now. You have to do something and be okay with being still, Being okay with that. Look at your environment. Focus on how you are breathing. How do you feel? Is it cold? Is it warm? What's around you? And then I start paying attention to the things around me. Start watching people through the window. I need to do something to ground myself into the present moment because I find myself going out and just being somewhere else. So when I try, When I notice that, I try to do that. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. Alison says, I'm very okay doing nothing. Alison, That's great. I mean, That's mindfulness, Right? You are okay being in the present moment and you accept the things however they are. So that's awesome. Lenore says, Lisa, You got a word today. So, Becca, Thank you so much. Deep breathing, Slow down, Enjoy present moment. Count to 10. Yeah. And then after that, Ask yourself, What does it feel great for me to do now? What do I want to do now? Do I want to listen to a course on Inside Timer? Do I want to do some exercise? Do I want to go for a walk? Is it okay if I walk while listening to something? Just ask yourself, What do I need to do now? Okay. And if you have to do something that is demanded from you, Then how can you make that task more enjoyable? Okay. Amy, I tried to do a to do list the night before. Then if there is a project I really don't want to do, I put it on my schedule. If it's on my daily calendar, I'm more likely to get it done. Thank you, Beth. Naomi says, Yes, Please share. I don't know what that is. Share what? Nothing is resting and taking care of yourself. Yeah, Nothing is resting and taking care of yourself. Yeah. And it's funny because doing nothing is not really doing nothing. You are always doing something. I mean, You are looking around, You are breathing. You may be thinking about something. You may be, So doing nothing, You may be lying on the couch. Doing nothing means something different for everybody. What does it mean for you guys to do nothing? Just type it on the chat. I'm just curious. What does it mean for you to do nothing? Fear over one perfectionism. So Amy says, Yes, Fear over one perfectionism. Dread of medical paperwork. Learn how to sit with myself doing nothing. Powerful. Those are the real issues. I don't want to face the feelings of living with the illness. I can go anywhere and do what I used to love. Being still is hard all day. Amy, So here you have some great answers, Great awareness that, Again, It's not easy to go through those things. But they are there. And until you don't clear them up, Until you don't process all these things, Maybe sitting down to write a book is not going to be doable for you. Because you just won't be able to do it. So you have to, So you say fear, You say overwhelm, You say perfectionism, You say dread of medical work. So every one of these emotions, Feelings that are coming up for you, They deserve a little bit of time from your side. Maybe you can sit with yourself with a mirror, Or maybe you can close your eyes and think about that specific one. Think about fear. Okay, Why am I feeling fear? What's behind the fear? And then just listen to yourself. Maybe you have fear for not being good enough when you write your book. Maybe you have fear because you don't know how to publish it. Maybe you have fear because, I don't know, You will have the answers. And then you do the same with overwhelm. You do the same with perfectionism. And then you have to start accepting the situation, Questioning everything from between. Is it real? Is it really feels aligned with me to feel this way? Am I feeling this way because of past experiences and old beliefs that I need to change? Is there any support I can get with this? I don't know, Start diving deeper into these things. Because it feels to me that writing is something important for you. Okay? And it's coming up in all the lives. You always mention it. So I think that's important for you. You just need to find a way to make it happen. And right now you are facing blockages, You are facing challenges. And sometimes those challenges are there because we need to learn something from them. Maybe when you process all these challenges, You're going to become a way better writer. Because your experience is going to be more. . . It's going to be deeper. It's going to be more nurturing. It's going to be more. . . You're going to feel more like sharing because you have gone through it yourself. Again, I know it's not easy and I don't know your specific situation, But what you are sharing, You already have some awareness in there that you can start exploring. Catherine, I like that. I always feel like it's not enough. So the email, How she got rid of it. Oh yeah, I would love to also know the person who was talking about emails, How she went down from 160 to 1000. Can you please share how you did it? Susan says, I just found another amazing Inside Time course. Giovanni Densam, Self-discipline, Also procrastination. He brought a book and workbook. All about habits, Rewards, Purposeful living. It is a very specific system like Emilius. Thank you, Susan, For recommending that. Watch Netflix. So do nothing. Watch Netflix. I searched each sender that I didn't want in there. Many had sent more than 1000 emails and deleted them by sender. It took a long time, Probably 40 hours altogether. I'm currently unemployed. So Lisa, What she did was she went to the specific sender and then she filtered by that and then she selected all those emails from that sender. And I know when I was helping a client a few years ago, We used a service called Mailstrom. Mail S-T-R-O-M. And there are other services similar out there, But they allow you to group, Delete groups of emails and subscribe at the same time. So you can process lots of emails very quickly. To be honest, Guys, If you have an account with 100 and something emails unread, Maybe it's easier for you to start fresh with a different account and then declare an email bankruptcy. Some people have done that and I thought it was a very interesting concept when it comes to email. And you can do this with any other concept. The same way that financially speaking, When you crash financially and you're just getting a hole and there is no way out, You declare bankruptcy, Okay, And then you get a fresh start. You can apply the same process to your email, The same process to your social media, The same process to your apps. So you can declare a bankruptcy and then start fresh. And then you can let everybody know, Like, This is my new email address. Maybe you can have a peek in your email to see what important emails are there. But honestly, Start using a brand new one. That may be a solution for you. So when I do nothing, I sit on the window seat. Thank you so much for sharing, Lisa. I know that going through emails takes a long time. So guys, If you don't have 40 hours to spend on that, Again, Find different ways of doing it. And sometimes starting from scratch, Setting a very strong intention, It's easier because at least you are moving forward with intention, You are moving forward with a system, And you are moving forward with something that feels aligned. And honestly, Whoever wants to find you, They will find you. And then you can give them your new email address, Okay? So Amy, It may be that self-work you are doing on Inside Timer is exactly what you are supposed to be doing before your illness. You may not have had the opportunity to immerse yourself in the self-care of an Inside Timer. Beth, That's beautiful. That's a beautiful angle. And that's true. Amy, Maybe everything is happening to you this way because this is how it has to happen for you because maybe you need to spend more time on Inside Timer. And if you were doing a regular life with having energy, Maybe you didn't have the time or you wouldn't even do Inside Timer. That's another way of looking at it. I paid my dogs as intentional, Doing nothing. How did it feel when you completed your maintenance? Becca asked Lisa, How did you feel? I'm pretty sure she feels very relieved. Okay, So. . . I want to ask you guys a couple of questions that is going to show your relationship with technology. And when I ask these questions, I want you to do two things. I want you to really deep. . . Just deep breath a couple of times when you are listening to the question and then notice what's coming up for you. Okay? Notice what reaction is coming up for you. It can be like, There is no way I'm doing that. It can be like, That sounds interesting. It can be like, Wow, That sounds horrible. It's so much anxiety that I'm feeling right now just thinking about it. So notice, Pay attention to your gut feeling, Okay? When I'm asking you these questions. Okay, Are you guys ready? So relieved and motivated to do more purging or physical stuff too. Amazing. So guys, I want you to be ready. Let me know when you guys are ready with a yes in the comments. I'm going to ask you a couple of questions and I want you to take a couple of deep breaths while you listen to the question and see what comes out of you. And then I want you to share it in the chat. Okay? Here we go. The first question. How would you feel if you didn't have access to your phone for one full month? You don't have access to your phone for one full month. 30 days. You still have access to computer. You still have access to your laptop. But no phones. Okay. Alone. Scared and empty. Relieved. Free. Relieved. Free. I will be happy. At first stressed but will eventually more relaxed. One day fine. Happy. Unless I'm playing on Survivor I will die. Anxious because I want my inside timer. Anxious. Guys, You still have your computer. I will get more done. Cut off. Will not get to speak to mom across country. Less dependent. Loved. Missed those days. Present. I am a photographer and always miss the camera. Okay. Guys, This is great. Again, I'm not telling you to do it. I just want you to know how you feel. If I could make phone calls on my computer to touch base with relatives then I will be fine without a phone. It will be really hard. Hola. Sorry I'm late. Hi, Cecilia. If I could make phone calls. Yeah. I will do everything I do on my phone on my computer so I will be fine. Skype on the laptop. So guys, Okay. This is great. 30 days will not be helpful. You could program. Yeah. So Ana, 30 days will not be helpful. You say it will not be helpful. Why? Guys, For all of you who are facing resistance I say just the phone so you don't have to you still have your computer. So you have Skype, You have Google Hangouts, You have Zoom you have all the social media in there, You have emails, You have everything in there. I mean you have access to the exact same thing that you have access with your phone. The only thing that you don't have access to is phone call and text messages. But imagine that you have a flip phone. Okay. So you can call and you can text. How will you feel going 30 days without a smartphone? Okay. I have to pause on Inside Time for my business. Okay. Perfect. Okay. Liberated. Okay. I don't do much on calls and I can text from my computer. Amazing. So guys, You are becoming aware of like whoa whoa whoa. What I will miss if I do this, Right? And for some people it's business stuff on Instagram. Absolutely. I also do Instagram and you need to have a phone to do that. I also love the camera on my phone. Okay. And if I don't have it, I miss it so many times. But it's interesting to see the gut feeling that comes up for you. Okay. So are you guys ready for the second question? I will probably not get up at night and look at the computer as much as I do on the phone. Absolutely. Okay. Second question. Are you guys ready? How will you feel if you didn't have access to your phone for one full day a week? So once a week, One day a week, You choose which day it is. You leave your phone at home and you just go to do your day-to-day stuff without having a phone. How does that feel? Great. Happy. I can do that. I will be okay with just one day a week. It's okay. I do it sometimes. Nice. Rejuvenated. Great. Okay. Manageable. Okay. That will make me anxious. I feel like if something happened, I couldn't make an emergency call. Violette, Everybody has a phone. You can just stop someone on the street and say, Do you mind if I make a phone call, Please? There is an emergency happening. So, Again, Smartphone. Okay. So you can still have a flip phone if you wanted to. So you can have access to phone calls. But you don't have a smartphone. So you don't have internet. You don't have emails. You don't have social media in your pocket. Kelvin says, I do this two or three times a week. Amazing. I would like to try it. Scared I will have a health issue and not able to call 911. Okay. Okay. I try to do this on Sunday as I'm self-employed and customers will call on our day of. Amazing. So I'm introducing here, Guys, What's called like a digital detox. Okay. A digital detox can be very extreme, Like a 30-day challenge, But can also be a day-to-day things that you can do. Okay. And I understand that all of you have unique needs. Some people are self-employed. Some people need their phones for work and they have to be reachable by email. Some people. So you will make a list, An intentional list of the things that you really need. What do I really need and how often do I really need it? Okay. And then you can set your digital detox rules. Maybe you say one day a week is going to be enough on Wednesday. Maybe you say three hours every day. A three hour window every day is going to be enough on time. And maybe you still have the phone in silence in your pocket or somewhere inconvenient, But you're not looking at it. Sometimes that works when you have the habit formed. Okay. But when you don't have the habit formed, We have to leave the phone behind because we have to leave the phone behind. We have to leave the phone behind because we need to relearn what to do without our phones. When you relearn what to do without our phones, Then in my case, I don't have sounds or notifications on other than calling and text message. And I have educated everybody that if they need to reach me, It's important, They'll call me. If not, I will not respond immediately. I will not and that's fine. So I have my phone around me. If someone is to reach me or I need to reach someone, I can call them, But nothing else is distracting me. Okay. So you can set the rules in a way that makes sense for you in a way that feels aligned with you. This is my recommendation. Come up with a rule that makes you feel a little bit uncomfortable. Okay. Makes you feel a little bit uncomfortable, But not too much that you will not do it. By doing this, You're going to explore that discomfort in a different way. And you are going to set different intentions. Okay. So if you don't have the phone with you, It's important that you plan for something fun to do. You have other activities that you can do. Okay. Another thing that you can do that I do myself, You can have dedicated devices for specific things. So I have my regular phone, But this regular phone goes into the charging station at the end of the day. It doesn't come with me. If I want to do a meditation in bed, I have this iPhone that I use. And the only thing that I have on this phone, This phone doesn't have calls, Doesn't have text messages, Doesn't have social media. It only has Inside Timing. That's it. So I can use this for Inside Timer. I can use it for meditations. I can listen to courses here, But I don't get anything else. So you can do the same thing for your specific situation. If you have a work environment that requires you to be always on email, Maybe your phone, Your work phone, It's only that and that's it. And your personal phone has all the rest so that you can go away, Step away from your personal phone and not get distracted. And then on the other phone, You only have what you really need. So how are you guys feeling about these ideas? So Deborah says, Yes, Great questions. I was thinking if I could get up super early and not look at the phone until 10 a. M. , But I can't seem to get up. So good. They are great. Great suggestions. Good, Good. So what do you guys feel like doing? Like what do you guys feel like implementing moving on from now? What is something that you got from this session that you feel, Oh, I want to try this and see how it feels? What idea resonated with you? I'm going to get a flip phone and go out for a day without my smartphone. Amazing. That's great. I love the idea of two phones, Two days with no phone per week. Amy, From nothing to two days a week, That's amazing. That looks like a big. So digital detox, Not use phone some days of the week at all. Sarah, Amazing. So digital detox seems that is something that everybody liked. Put my phone down for three hours every evening. Amazing, Vicki. My number of emails gets too many. Maybe I could unsubscribe. Okay, Emilio, My friend saw his smartphone and got a cheap one with no apps, Just calls and texts. He's a lot happier and he says his social life has improved. I believe it, Kelvin. I believe it. Most likely he's way more present. I have a landline as a backup so I can shut off my phone and if there is a family emergency, People can call me on my landline. Bankeropsie on email account. Amy, Yes. That sounds really good. Use the do not disturb function more frequently. Amazing. This is another thing when it comes to notifications, Another strategy is to make sure that the notifications in your phone are optimized. Okay? Meaning that you only get notifications from the services that you really want to. Like you don't want to get a noise every 15 seconds. Like sometimes I go in environments and the phone is constantly like beeping, Vibrating, Blinking lights and it's just so distracting. It's so much nicer for me to just have a quiet environment, Right? That's me. Maybe for you it's different but think about how to optimize those notifications. Have three to four days phone free and one day no computer internet. Kelvin, That sounds amazing. Sara, When I'm doing classes on my phone, I will silence it while I'm in. Amazing. I once went one weekend computer and phone off, It was the best. So I myself guys did a 30 day, No a seven day, Sorry, A one full week without a phone. I put my smartphone in the shelf and I didn't use it for a full week. So I still have my computer but then after doing that, That's a way for you to force yourself to really get in that, Right? And really learn from it. If you do 30 days, I can imagine that is even better. But you can do a detox of only the unnecessary things, Okay? So for those of you who require your phone for specific things, You can still use those services. But that's it. And you only use those services for what you need. For example, Instagram, I will just go to post and leave. I will not engage, I will not do. . . Emilio, How did you feel after the seven days? So Kelvin, I felt that seven days wasn't long enough to create new hobbies and new habits, To be honest. But it was a very good eye opening in the sense that how much we rely on technology. And how inconvenient it was for me to use my computer because I don't get notifications. So when I sat on my computer, I realized like, Wow, Now I have to be intentional here. Where am I going in? Am I going to Facebook? Am I going to Instagram? Am I doing emails? I mean, There is nothing telling me what to do. So it was interesting and frustrating. Meaning like, I like the phone because the notifications show up so I know what's new on every app. So I don't have to think about it. But it also distracts me because sometimes I may do something that I don't want to do right now. You know what I mean? On the computer, When you sit there, You have to be very intentional. And another thing that I sense is that by me not having the phone in my pocket, Then sometimes I was reaching for my pocket and it's like, Oh, It's not there. So I don't have a phone. I forgot. It's just so automatic, Right? Like just reaching and getting. It's so convenient. So those are some of the main things that came up for me. Yes, Be selective about notifications. Yeah. So guys, Thank you so much for participating today. These are some of the ideas that I have for you. So Amy says, I did two weekends, No technology at all in a tiny cabin in the woods with a fireplace, A river, And mountains nearby. I love this time together. Doing nothing was lovely and I brought a lot. Not in a book form, But I brought and it felt so calming and fulfilling. Yeah, Amy. So you gave yourself time with your fiance, With yourself. And yeah, It sounds really healing. That's what a true digital detox can look like, Right? When you put yourself in an environment that the internet is not accessible, Even if you have your phone with you, It's not accessible. You can also put your phone on airplane mode, But you can always do that and do it, Right? So, But you can still have the camera, You can still have, You can read, You can maybe have some courses from inside the camera that you can listen to if you want, But you don't have the course and access to the internet. Yeah. So guys, Is there any other frustration about digital life that we haven't covered here that you would like to bring up before we finish the session? Photos. Thank you, Amy. This was great. Photos is something, Guys. I was looking at photos on my phone the other day, And I have a system that I try to, When I take the photos, And then I set the intention for what do I want to do with these photos? What are they going to end up in? Am I going to make a video? Am I going to save them in a folder? So, Vicky, When it comes to photos, You need to set some sort of intention, Meaning that my intention, For example, Is I take photos on my phone, And then I share them with my family through WhatsApp or with my friends. And then after that, I decide, Do I want to keep this photo, Or do I want to delete it? I may delete the ones that I don't need, And with the ones that I want to save, What I do, I used to upload them to Google Drive. But now my space is getting very big, And I don't want to pay more every month. So what I do, I don't care about the quality of the photos. The ones that I really care about, I have an external hard drive. And once every a month, Once every couple of months, I will transfer those photos into that hard drive. And the other ones, What I am doing now, I put them in Facebook, In a private folder. I use Facebook because my mom can see them, And I don't really care if those photos, Facebook has them. If you are against Facebook, If you are against having them in the cloud, Online, Then you need to get a hard drive. If you don't want to get a hard drive, Google Photos works really well, For example, You can create folders, It syncs automatically with your device. The problem I found with Google Drive is that it syncs everything, So if you don't take the time to delete the ones that you don't need, Your storage space is going to grow really fast. Really fast. Especially with photos and videos. And then going back, When you have like gigas and gigabytes of information in there, It's very difficult and it takes a lot of time. So, That's what I do. And sometimes it's frustrating because I take a lot of photos, And sometimes it's too many photos that I don't need. But then I don't want to delete them, And then I feel bad, But my phone is full, And I have to do something about it, But I don't know what to do with it. So this is normal for a lot of people, Okay? This is normal. So I delete text messages at the end of every day. That's amazing. Audible books, I have over 300 in the end. Emilio, I said once I get to 500, I will cancel Audible. Now when I have books, I have read, I delete. Yeah, Kelvin, Deleting what you have read, Having some sort of system to maybe, If you want to have an archive of books that you have read, Separating them from the other ones. Again, It's about being intentional, Right? And being intentional is going to mean something different for everybody. How to keep files from the Files app. Can they be stored on an external drive? So Becca, In my case, I personally use Google Drive. I use that for my personal, And I use it for my business, And that syncs with my wife's computer too, And we can access the information from any device. So that's what we use. You have other options like Dropbox, Apple has also like a cloud storage space. So there are different options available out there, And you can use the one that you feel. I personally use Google Drive. Vicky, Thank you for asking. Photos feel the same. Yeah, I love to look through my photos end of each week as part of my weekly review. Yeah, Millie, Amazing. So creating some sort of maintenance, It's important. So if you, It depends, If you take a lot of photos, Maybe daily, Maybe make sense to you. If you don't take a lot of photos, Maybe once a week is enough for you, But you need to have a process. So in my case, When I open the photos on my phone, I do have different folders. So I have a folder that maybe is called Eva, My daughter. I have a folder that is called a course that I am creating for juggling. So when I have content around that topic, I move it to that folder. If it's general photos that I don't have a specific intention for them, They stay on the main folder. And then once a month or once every couple of months, I will move them out. OK, That's how I do it. But there are a thousand different ways of doing this. So, Emilio, When you do transfer photos to your hard drive, It's a task in your bullet journal system. So, Anna, That's a part of our closing the month process. OK, At the end of every month, When we close the month, We also have the task of moving things to the hard drive and making a backup. So for me, For example, When it comes to photos, I don't have a set to stone because it depends on my phone's storage. So what I do, I have the maintenance habit of, I move the photos as I take them if I need to. But all the photos that are on the main folder that I don't have a specific intention for, I will just move them all at once. In my case, I move them to Facebook. I have a private album and I move them in there. The quality of the photos in there will not be the same. OK, But that's something that I'm OK with because the other option, I will just delete them. So I rather have a photo, A low quality photo rather than no photo. That's my personal opinion. Some people want to have the high definition photo and they are willing to pay extra to store them. If that's your case, Then you can use a service to store high quality photos or you can get an extended hard drive big enough to keep all your photos. If you have an extended hard drive, I would recommend that you have a backup because if that hard drive breaks, You will lose all your information. So then you start having two hard drives because you want to have two copies and it becomes complicated. So it all depends on your level of comfort about losing that information. At the end of that, It boils down to that. If you are very paranoid about losing your information and you don't want to have it in the cloud, Then you need to have two hard drives and then you need to sync them. Do a backup. If you are OK having them in the cloud, Then it's very convenient because you can set your phone to automatically sync and then everything just syncs automatically and you don't have to do it. I hope that helps Anna. I want to be a member of team Amy. I'm grateful for your openness here, Amy. Amazing. OK, Guys, Thank you so much for being here today. I would like to ask you for next week, What topics would you like me to cover? Do you have specific requests for me? I would like to know if there are specific topics that you would like me to cover. I have a few ideas, But I always like to ask to try and make it more relevant. And if I feel inspired with any of these topics, I can add them to my schedule. So travel preparation for long term trip. Are you traveling? So, OK, Wow, So many topics, Guys. Amazing travel preparation. Journal diaries. Creativity in your life. What does that mean? What do you mean by that, Amy? Creativity in your life, Like how to include creativity in your life. Toiletries, Toiletries, Clutter. This has been awesome. Thank you. Thank you, Deborah. No, You are Emily. Oh, Sorry. I thought that was a topic, Becca. Once put on Facebook, You relinquish those photos, Intellectual property. So no longer on those photos anymore. Robert, Again, Anytime you put stuff on the cloud, You don't have full control of it. So every platform has different rules. And I am OK with that because the photos that I put in there, I will delete them otherwise. So I don't really care that much. But in your case, If you care, Don't use any of those services and have your own hard drive. OK. How to bring creativity to the center of your life. Not just in the margins or a hobby we don't prioritize. OK, I see. Preparing for holidays. OK. How to bring. Sure. Thank you. Have a great day, Everyone. Thank you, Vicky. Finding a new career that brings you joy. OK, Career. OK. OK. I think that's enough. I have some ideas. Yes, Emilio. How do you prepare for a trip when you will be away from home for a long time? OK, I can help you with that because I did that for like four years. Yes, Creativity, Being able to do what you love after you deal with all this stuff, These distractions. If I had a plan, Maybe I wouldn't be afraid of letting go of distractions. So you need intention. Was worried about that, Robert. So I don't post my best. Mostly don't share. I like the career one, Too. Meaning and purpose. OK. OK. Thank you so much, Guys. Have an amazing rest of your week and weekend. And I will see you guys on next week. I will see you guys next week. Next week, I think I'm working on Tuesday all day with a client. So I think my sessions will be probably on Monday and Thursday. But I will post them so you will see them. OK. Thank you so much for being here, Guys. Have a great Thursday and I will see you next week. OK. Have a beautiful weekend, Too. Adios.
5.0 (2)
Aiste
May 3, 2026
I used to have a really good bedtime routine and my phone was banned from my bedroom after a certain time. And then I started using it for meditations and all the bad habits crept in 🤦♀️ While listening to your talk, I realised I could try to come back to that, I just need to tweak a few things. I am also going to use "Do not disturb" function on the phone a lot more. So just the digital detox is left to be planned.
