This Week on "Workaholics"...

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It's been 1 year, since I decided to change my professional path. 2 years since the decision of quitting Efluenz.

Knowing I wanted to quit, did not mean I knew what my next project would be.

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For the ones following me on socials or know me personally, know the change has been quite drastic.

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1 year ago I got conscious of my own behaviour. Not being able to focus more than 15 minutes, reaching for my phone over 200 times a day, small panic attacks when I could not find it, not being able to hold a conversation / meeting without checking my phone, not being able to watch a movie / serie without scrolling...

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It got me stressed, lost a lot of time, felt anxious, couldn't focus, trouble sleeping...

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In the Netherlands they launched "Mei Social vrij", which means no social media during the entire month of May. I've been doing my own challenge since a couple of months which is more focused on "Drop the scroll, take control". I can only recommend.

Matthias Dewilde - Gamechangers

• No phone the first 2 hours of the day
• No notifications: no email, whatsapp, socials...
• Take 15 minutes to reply to urgent messages (whatsapp, DMs) and post content on Instagram or Linkedin
• Phone goes away for 2 hours. When someone calls, I'll hear it.
• Check my phone for max. 10 minutes and will reply to messages
• Phone goes away for lunch and 1 hour of work.
• Check my phone for max. 10 minutes and will reply to messages
• Phone goes away for 2 hours.
• Depending on the evening, if I'm with the kids, the phone is on the kitchen counter for example. I just take it if I want to take a picture of them :-).
• If I have a dinner with friends, it will be in my bag. I'll only take it to take pictures
• Phone free 2 hours before bed. I'll read, watch netflix...

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Of course, this is what works for me and some days I'm not able to stick to it for whatever reason. It was also a change for the people around me, that I don't reply immediately anymore or I don't reach out as often as before. Professionnaly it was not a big change, as I do most business during meetings or via email. A lot has to do with managing expectations of people around you and educating eachother. Whatsapp, email, Slack etc was not made to reply within 5 minutes. If something is really urgent, they'll reach out by phone.

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I still create a lot of content, via social media, newsletter,... so I still find it difficult to completely cut it out. To be honest, I would like to, but I'm not yet sure how I can promote my book, podcast or entrepreneurship in general. So for the moment it works for me, when I'm online on socials it is only to post, create or get inspired. Not to escape my reality or waste time.

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