Effective Tech: Less Stress
We know the adage: a wonderful servant and a terrible master. Nowhere does this apply more in 2020 than in regards to technology. When used correctly, effective tech should make you less stressed, not more so. Last post we spoke about treating tech as an employee, which definitely carries over into this week. Technology isn’t the boss of you -- you’re in charge. Don’t let it run or ruin your life!
Don’t Apologize: Prioritize
Technology is a perfect tool for prioritization. It can help you organize your to-do’s, color code your calendar, and maximize your capacity. Because the truth is, your capacity is finite -- you can’t be in 2 places at once and you’ve only got 24 hours in a day. Your time is valuable and your calendar space is limited.
Use technology to help you prioritize the top three (or four, not a set in stone rule here) things you need to accomplish every day. Use technology to assist you in weeding out meetings and tasks that don’t move you towards accomplishing those goals.
Anything on your calendar that doesn’t contribute to today’s top priorities gets put in one of three categories:
1. Remove
Not every meeting or task is necessary. Some can simply be cancelled and let go. You could even consolidate two meetings into one to maximize time if that’s appropriate.
2. Reschedule
Don’t shy away from rescheduling occasionally. As you learn to prioritize more effectively, you won’t reschedule as often. And remember, a “Can we reschedule?” email is often just as welcome to the receiver as the sender. Most people are pretty understanding and willing to work with the infrequent schedule adjustment.
3. Reassign
Some things are not the best use of your time and can be reassigned to another team member. Ask a junior sales person to represent you at the meeting and brief you later. Call your assistant in to respond to those messages. Get things off your plate AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE!
Limits
As humanity learns again and again, just because we can doesn’t mean we should. This is the lesson that just keeps on giving. Since Mary Shelly wrote Frankenstein, we’ve been constantly reminding ourselves as a society to check ourselves before we wreck ourselves. Technology is here to test us again. In a 2017 study, the American Psychological Association found that people who constantly check their phones, “stress runs higher than for those who do not engage with technology as frequently” (American Psychological Association, 2017).
Meaning that practically, in order for tech to be truly effective, we have to put limits in place and stick to them. A lot of devices these days have ways to remind yourself to take breaks, put down the phone, or get out of the app before it becomes detrimental to your health. Do yourself a favor: find out how to put limits in place on your tech and stick to them religiously.
Boundaries
Another vital element to creating less stress through tech is laying down the law when it comes to boundaries. A 2019 post from the Open University points out that “while in the past there was often a clear boundary between where work life ended, and home life began…this area is now very much grey. Most of us have our work emails on our phones, making us constantly available and contactable. This makes it very difficult for us to ever truly disengage from work and relax” (Open University, 2019).
It’s up to us to set boundaries between work and life for our own health as well as the health of our family, friends, and colleagues. And if you’re in charge of a team, encourage those around you to stick to these limits as well. Kindly point out to others that it’s not appropriate to email after work hours, or phone colleagues on the weekend. We all need accountability in this area. Healthy boundaries create respect, higher quality work, and better relationships all around.
As far as specific tools or applications, it’s hard to recommend with integrity since everyone’s needs vary. You do what works for you. Personally, I love me some basic Outlook Calendar. It’s already on my desktop and integrates easily with other applications. Working smarter here, not harder. Remember, it’s not about the fanciest or best or newest tools (see past post) you can use Click Up, Monday.com, Asana or Microsoft To-Do. It doesn’t matter!
What does matter: Prioritizing your tasks, maximizing your time, setting limits, and enforcing boundaries so you can GET THINGS DONE with less stress, not more.
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As we wrap up our series on effective tech, I’d like to pause a moment to look backward on what we’ve discussed and look forward towards what’s next. To a large degree, taking that adjustment time to integrate tech successfully into our workflow is what makes it effective.