Tell your phone to buzz off!
We all experience emotional fatigue, and technology is the major culprit. We have become accustomed to constant stimulation, and it’s frazzling our minds and eroding our levels of resilience.
The pace of 21st century life is relentless enough without being mentally plugged in to our smartphone and tablet 24/7, unable to escape from the vicious cycle of breaking news, social media, inane games and the compulsion to react to emails out of office hours. Your brain can’t switch off if your phone is always switched on. You need to escape its addictive pull.
So, make a pact with your family to renegotiate the terms and conditions of use you have with your phones. In fact, draw up new wellbeing-friendly contracts for all your devices; such as disabling your notifications and alerts for your various messaging apps and turning off your phone at least two hours before you go to bed. And keep it off overnight – or at least recharge it downstairs while your brain recharges itself upstairs.
“Yes, but I use it as an alarm clock.” Here’s an idea: buy an alarm clock!
To help it become a habit that sticks, give your resolutions a name. Have a regular ‘Do Not Disturb Day’, a ‘Digital Detox’ month. Disconnecting from the digital world will help you sleep better, recharge more deeply and reconnect to your creativity.
Learn to say ‘no’ occasionally
Coaching can be as all-consuming and addictive as technology. Before you know it, you have committed to an ever-increasing number of roles and responsibilities that take up an inordinate amount of your time. As we’ve already touched on, coaches tend to be intrinsically motivated people who don’t like saying no to anybody or anything. Over a period of weeks, months and years, that attitude can take a heavy toll.
So, next time you are asked to help, for example, with the annual supermarket bag-pack club fundraiser, politely decline. If you have built a good relationship with your team’s parents, don’t worry, they won’t tell you to pack your bags!
And then, instead, go out for Sunday lunch; go for a relaxing walk; have a relaxing bath; read a good book; spend some quality time with friends or family; or engage in some other form of activity that will activate the flow of those essential resilience-replenishing happiness hormones.
Learn to compartmentalise coaching tasks
As important as it is to know when to switch off your phone, it is just as crucial to know when you should switch off, removing yourself from all coaching distractions and successfully separating your professional and private life in order to strike the right work-life balance.
Block time on your calendar to manage your weekly coaching duties and administrative tasks. Having a set routine for designated tasks on designated days (session planning, e-mails to parents, team feedback or personalised support) will help you relax, enjoy your down time and allow your mind to let go of the stresses of the day. It will also help you give your full attention to your to-do list when you do get down to business, allowing you to get more done.
Studies suggest it takes an average of 23 minutes to refocus on your original task after an interruption, so being deliberate with your time will guard against the constant distractions of e-mails, random texts and the obsession of replying to posts on Facebook and WhatsApp Groups.