3 advice on being less distracted

one thing i really wanna dive into more is my relationship with my iphone and social media. i talked about this in an earlier post, about the negative aspects of our digital tools. i am not against social media or against the digital world we live in. i am in fact a tech nerd, and i am proud to call myself that.

i am in fact more against wasting my time every day on less important things, or more specific -

i am against putting off the essential acitivites because less essential digital activities take up too much space.

which means, if i make time for the important things every day, i have no problem being on social media or watching an anime at the end of the day, but in small doses.

my first advice: try a social media free month - this fall of 2020, i decided to take a break from social media. so i went offline the whole month of november. the first week was pretty hard, i was feeling a lot of resistance of not scrolling away on all the platforms but i slowly started to feel less and less of that resistance. in the end of november, i didn't mind not looking at the endless posts of content at instagram. now i feel less distracted and more focused. i feel more present.

my second advice: schedule your social media time to a minimum - in december, when i allowed myself to go back to social media, i set this rule to only login to social media on saturday mornings, 20 minutes. i have read that you only need 20-30 minutes per week to feel that satisfying feeling of connection. (i used to spend around 2-3 hours per day on my phone.) if you want to access social media everyday, then schedule 20 minutes in the evening for social media. this is not as effective though.

my third advice: delete your social media apps on your phone - perhaps it's hard to stay away from the social media apps on your phone. everytime i got a bit bored, my brain went on autopilot and logged into instagram. i wasn't making an active choice. so i decided to delete all my apps on my phone. deleted apps: facebook, instagram, pinterest, tiktok. instead i use my laptop on saturdays and i feel like i value more what i see now. (when i became a minimalist, i reduced my apps on my phone and deleted accounts for tumblr, twitter, snapchat, etc).

bonus advice: turn off all those notifications on your phone - you don't need those. but this advice alone is probably not gonna work. but it's gonna make you feel less distracted.

i'm back blogging

i'm finally back here on this plattform and i'm happy to start blogging again from another computer. my old computer was really tired and ready to break anytime soon, so i decided to get a smaller computer which is more suitable for traveling and songwriting. it's really great how quiet this laptop is when i compare it to the old one.

as the structure geek i am, i also downloaded Day One which is an app for journaling and keeping lists and notes. i have another app for journaling but i feel like day one is one straw sharper and i can really enjoy my own private digital space. everything is not meant to be shared online and i really love writing and this will help me write more lyrics and music. i am also not a perfect person. i have flaws and weaknesses like any other person and i feel writing about improvements is a thing that i should do private.

on another note, my music making is continuing and i am happy with the songs i release right now, especially the videos, and i really like the stories behind the lyrics. and how about archery? not so much i'm sad to say. i really like archery and i miss it really much but under these circumstances i don't have too much time to go there. i don't want to take the bus and when i'm suppose to take the bike it rains.. i hope to be there soon though.

take care and have a nice day!

is there a thing called ‘morning musician’?

remember my earlier post ‘prioritizing music’? i was trying out a new morning routine where i wake up early to produce music. after three weeks of early music mornings i dare to say that this routine is stuck and ready to stay. now I do everything on auto-pilot and i don’t feel like i have to force myself into the studio anymore. there isn’t much loud traffic around 5-6 in the morning so it’s easier to record and i don’t get frustrated and sad. tt used to drain me and take so much time before.

i am not tired and sad anymore after a studio session. i’m happy making music every workday.

for me, the key is to create an effective and easy system. it took me a few years to finally come up with a routine that works, i experimented and failed a lot of times, but this was definitely worth the patience.

if you want to read more about prioritizing and making systems that work, i recommend the book “essentialism: The disciplined pursuit of less”.