I just finished terrific meetings this week with my two Roundtable groups. Members fly into Chicago from as far as the UK and Australia and we all spend two days together discussing our business challenges an an intense, iron-sharpens-iron mastermind.
One of the rules at Roundtable meetings is: Your 6 pound laptop computer stays put away unless you’re using it to help the person who’s on the hot seat.
No checking email, no typing while other people talk. You’ve gotta give 100% focus to whoever is presenting their problem to the group.
This is ALWAYS hard for some people. For GenX and GenY, all our friends and almost the whole cosmos is inside that notebook PC and it’s soooo hard to pull yourself away. And yes, our friends are in that little box and there’s endless fascination.
But as we all know, it becomes a trap too. You get chained to the thing and it becomes an obsession. The irony is that it got that way because you’re doing work that you LOVE. I love what I do and you do too and it makes it that much easier for that little six pound box to run your life.
(The other irony is that you’re reading an email about being a slave to your computer, on your computer, right now :^)
So it’s actually a great relief to get away from the email box and the obligations for 8 hours or two days, and just be human with other people. One Roundtable member said, “My goal is to be able to go on vacation for 2 weeks and not have to take my cell phone or my computer.”
AMEN BROTHER. How many people can actually take that kind of vacation? If your business is as systematized as it should be, you can do it.
A good step towards that goal would be to only have to spend 15-30 minutes on the computer each day, with no cell phone, and be 100% on vacation the rest of the time.
A couple of ideas to help you get control of your digital life, so your computer is YOUR slave instead of the other way around:
-Take a Sabbath Rest: A 4000 year old tradition, and important item in the 10 commandments, is to do no work 1 day a week. Almost ALL modern people happily ignore this to their detriment.
I’m sure studies exist, and while I haven’t bothered to look them up, I’ll bet you a dollar that people who observe the Sabbath make more money than people who don’t. I think human beings really need one day a week to be complete couch potatoes and not feel even slightly guilty about it.
I’m not “religious” about it, but I do a pretty good job of taking one day off from my computer each week and it’s usually Sunday. When I discipline myself in this way, I feel so much more in control of my life and when I hit the ground running on Monday morning, I feel more recharged and refreshed and less like my computer runs my life.
-Do a “Media Fast.” We’ve all heard of food fasts and juice fasts. How about a media fast? You go for one day or a weekend or maybe even a week vacation with NO TV, no radio, no computer, no movies, no media. Only human beings and books.
If you do a Media Fast, you will come off it feeling much more able to discern the important from the trivial. Most of what you hear on the news will seem even more trite and irrelevant than it already does, and your family will appreciate your love and attention.
***You must be ruthless about who and what gets access to your email box. I am constantly telling people, you should go through your email box and unsubscribe from every single newsletter that only pitches you, that does not add value to your life. If it’s just chewing up your time, get rid of it. If there are toxic people, get rid of them.
Ask yourself: Which of these emails can I delegate to someone else? Can I get an errand boy or virtual assistant to look after this? The answer is probably “yes” for 2/3rds of what comes in.
-Autoresponders never sleep: The world doesn’t sleep and why should your business? That’s one of the things I love about Autoresponders. On my day off, the emails still go out and customers still get engaged. And if I’ve earned the right to be heard and if my messages are delivering value, then I’m getting customer love literally 24/7/365.
Like my Roundtable members, I want you to be totally clear about who’s boss of your life. Not your computer, not the people who email you constantly, not your business, but YOU and your values and your loved ones.
Your tools are your slave, not your master.
Perry Marshall
Share This Post
About the Author
Perry Marshall has launched two revolutions in sales and marketing. In Pay-Per-Click advertising, he pioneered best practices and wrote the world's best selling book on Google advertising. And he's driven the 80/20 Principle deeper than any other author, creating a new movement in business.
He is referenced across the Internet and by Harvard Business Review, The New York Times, INC and Forbes Magazine.
7 Comments on “When a 6 pound box runs your life”
Proudly our company,
Observes the Sabbath, no matter how crazy things get between sundown to sundown Friday-Saturday. The world stops so we can we be human again.
The end of the world and emergencies can wait for afterwards. Spending time with family friends and non-work related endeavors is what keeps us sane.
A Story:
A man complains to his Rabbi. That he can’t observe the Sabbath because he feels his best business for his tavern occurs on Saturday.
The Rabbi tells the man his solution. “You see that barrel of wine with the single spiggot, why don’t you put a second spiggot on the otherside, then you can serve twice a much wine”!
The Man says. “That’s ridiculous that doesn’t increase the amount of wine I can serve to my customers, where’s the profit in that?”
The Rabbi “Exactly! You think by working an extra day, will make a difference in how much money you earn? G-d knows exactly how much you’re destined to earn each week, by putting an extra spiggot in your money barrel, you not only empty the barrel more quickly, but work twice as hard to get it!”
How many Spiggots, Blackberry’s, iPhones and emails are wasting your time, and can wait a day?
Stan.
Perry-
Spot on!
I have gained a lot from a book a friend of mine wrote- SoulDiet- he has a great over view of his plan on how to do a media diet and such at his website http://www.souldiet.com.
This view of how to balance is sorely missing. I teach in the mornings and work in the afternoon, and in both places there seems to be an assumption that you will always be plugged in.
The smart phones of the world have done little to help this.
In any case, thanks for brining up this important issue.
Be well,
Jeffrey
Perry, Like you I try for a day of rest a week (although I don’t get much chance to be a couch potato). About the only thing I do on a Sunday workwise is spend a few minutes planning a rough schedule for the week ahead. I’ve also managed to resist the temptation to work while on holiday (or vacation as you call it) and whilst I know it isn’t possible for everyone, I would certainly recommend it.
Thank you so much for clarifying for all of us that it’s OK to ‘step away from the box’. It’s a reminder that all would do well to heed. There is a LIFE out there apart from our electronic appendages. I’m unsubscribing from a dozen ezines right now.
Thanks for the reminder… we all need to get away from media every once in a while and remember that people come first.
Perry,
I totally agree with you. I am a religious Jew who is a Sabbath observer – which means that every Friday afternoon until Saturday night – the computer, cell phone, and radio/TV are OFF! That’s right, no access to the world and what’s going on. And we Jews know how to make money the other 6 days, and plenty of it. Being cut off is a good thing. And when we get back to it, we are fresh and invigorated, ready to tackle the challenges of the world with a renewed confidence that everyone else out there lacks.
Perry, I totally agree. Just this morning, I unsubscribed from several newsletters.
And if it were not for my news media junkie wife, I would probably not watch it at all.
In five weeks, we will be taking a one week vacation at the beach. I’m so looking forward to it!
Paul
Eat Well. Live Well.
PurpleGreenPops.com