5 tips to Overcoming Phone Stress
There was this great idea that if you could be contactable, anywhere, anytime, then that would be an awesome life to have. Years later, you’re tired, stressed and overwhelmed just from looking at your phone homepage. #appoverload
Are you a fast-two-fingered-typer-touch-phone-lover who’s brain goes faster than your fingers, your eyes are dealing with visual information overload, and your breathing is faster than you trying to run your first marathon?
With so much time being spent in the digital world it is becoming a stressful place to play in, although you probably don’t have many alternatives if you’re working from home and being a corporate slay-woman.
Here’s 5 tips to get your digital world in order and so you can get your zen back.
Time boundaries
Being permanently attached to your phone is really a behaviour of ‘it’s all about me’, and whilst you [my dear] are important, nothing is that important that you need to be available 24/7 (even the Prime Minister has boundaries).
Schedule specific times during the day where you check emails, scan socials, do your banking and send a message or two of love. You might bunch these activities all up together eg. for 30 minutes its free play and you can do any of the things you need to on your phone, or schedule them separately.
Consider setting blocks of time throughout your day, just as you would for work or for relaxation time.
8.00am – 8.45am phone time
12.30pm – 1.00pm phone time
6.45pm – 7.15pm phone time
Once you get organised and implement a few of the following steps, you’ll find that you really don’t need to be spending hours on your phone throughout the day.
Stop the ping
Whilst it may be exciting and you get a sense of ‘someone wants me’ every time the phone ping’s (is that even a word?!), after a while [let’s be honest, you’ve probably had a smart phone for at least 10 years now] the ping sound is now a trigger for heart palpitations, brow sweating and raised anxiety levels.
The ping has created a behavioural response of ‘I need to deal with this now’, when most things are NOT urgent.
Take back control of your time and focus by turning off notifications for your emails, Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, Twitter and whatever else you have notifying you of mundane information. Do leave on the reminders that help you, such as those you’ve set for regular work breaks, when to drink your water, when to eat your meals, mindfulness practices and when to start winding down for bed.
Once you do this, be sure to communicate it to your colleagues, family and friends so they understand you are implementing a new way of functioning and if they really need you for something urgent then a phone call is best, otherwise you’ll attend to that cute kitten meme they sent on messenger during the time you’ve scheduled for those things.
You do YOU
Don’t let the important apps that help you do life better become hidden amongst the sea of other useless apps that you downloaded years ago, ultimately leading to you never actually using them properly or consistently.
Start by moving all your apps off of the first home screen page (we’ll deal with them in the next tip).
Make a page on your phone for the apps you DO use for YOU each day – that’s your new home screen.
Next, only put apps on this home page that help YOU manage YOU. No, not internet banking or Tinder….
Think of apps like:
· Sleep Cycle – track your sleep patterns, be woken softly at the optimal time during your sleep cycle
· Garmin tracker – track your health and fitness data, compatible with Garmin Device
· MyFitnessPal – record and observe your eating habits
· Shae – your personal health assistant providing all you need to make life easy, happy and healthy
· PN Coaching -
· Mindful eating app -
· Spotify – for your favourite playlists to work, play or sing to
· Podcasts – learn and laugh
· FocusKeeper – productivity time management using Pomodoro method for focused work followed by break time
And any other health app that you use on a DAILY basis.
Having these as your home screen page means that visually you will always put YOU first.
Create folders of apps that are relevant
Having apps scattered all over your phone can feel somewhat like a child’s school science experiment that ended in an explosion – sh!t everywhere…!
Consider categorising your apps in folders so you have less things spread all over the pages of your phone and you can easily access them all on one page.
Try the following categories, or develop ones that suit you better. Include apps that make sense to you in each category – there’s no right or wrong, only you need to know how to use it best.
Social – Facebook, Instagram, Facebook messenger, LinkedIn, scheduling programs
Business – Zoom, Skype, Canva, Google Drive, Airtable, Dropbox, business magazines
Productivity – Trello, transcriber, apps for creating lists
Emails – all of your email programs
Finance – calculator, banking accounts, currency converters, Stripe, PayPal, Receipt tracker
Websites – any apps that help you manage your website and blogs, MailChimp
Education – Blinkist, Udemy, Coursera, Kajabi
Thoughts – Notes, Evernote, Voice memos
Entertainment – Shazam, Netflix, Foxtel, radio stations, Spotify
Health – Heart Rate Monitors, Posture trackers, lb to kg converter, period tracker
Calm – meditation apps, mindfulness apps, Gaia
Travel – parking payment apps, Google Maps
Lock screen inspiration
Enjoy a sense of peace, calm and inspiration when you lock your phone by using inspirational or picturesque images on your phone lock screen. You can search the internet with the words ‘inspirational phone lock screen images’ or design your own in Canva using one of the lovely pictures you have taken on your new daily walk (now that you are not a slave to notifications).
Don’t try and be a Wonder Woman and make all these changes at once, just implement 1 thing that you’re willing to try and observe your new way of being. Then implement more as you wish. It might feel clunky at first as you re-program your mind (and fingers) as to where you've hidden your socials icons or which folder to select for your financials, but you’ll be better off in the future.
Need some help? Coaching is a great way to explore your habits, embed them into your daily of life and achieve success in many areas. I would love to work with you on this so head to the contact page and drop me a message to discuss my coaching program options.
