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Why you need to ban your phone from your bedroom right now

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What’s the last thing you do before sleeping, and the first thing you do when you wake up? If you’re like the majority of people, you’re on your smartphone.

Research shows that 95% of us are spending time on a smartphone or tablet just before bed, and 84% of us reach for it first thing in the morning. We’re on emails, social networks, messaging apps, news sites, blogs… the list is endless.

But this near-consuming trend is coming at a cost – to your health, your productivity and your overall well-being.

Yet there’s a very simple solution you may not have considered…

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Less but Better: Life by Design

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When I surveyed readers of this blog, one of the strongest themes that emerged was a desire for greater clarity in your lives. So what kind of deliberate experiments might help along that journey?

Well, recently I’ve been mulling on the phrase “Less but better”.

It’s the credo and book title of German designer Dieter Rams, famous for his minimalist approach to design and an influence on the design aesthetic of Apple.

You may have seen a video spoof that was created a number of years ago re-imagining Apple packaging in the Microsoft packaging style of the time. It demonstrates beautifully the merit of the ‘less but better’ principle in design.

 

Of course, it’s not just in design that Rams’ credo is worth consideration. The deliberate design of our lives should also prompt us to consider the ways in which ‘less but better’ might be worth implementation. 

In my own life, I’ve been experimenting with designing a life of greater clarity by pursuing ‘less but better’…

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How to Stop Procrastination in its Tracks

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We all know procrastination isn’t helping us. Yet we all too easily fall into its traps.

If procrastination is the opposite of choosing to live deliberately, then how can we short-circuit its oh-so-tempting siren call?

There are many reasons for procrastination, but each of us to tend to have a style that we fall into more often than not, in terms of the underlying reasons for our stalling tactics, whatever they may be.

Mostly, these have to do with our thinking patterns. Recognising our natural tendency is the most important step in deliberately choosing better ways forward!

Which of these procrastination styles sounds most familiar to you?