As an executive coach, this is something I witness all the time. If your goals are genuinely important to you, failure to achieve them can have real consequences in terms of confidence, heath, happiness and often times family cohesion. One of the reasons so many people fail to change their habits is our failure to set boundaries. Unwittingly we undermine what is important to us by being available and responsive 24×7 to our jobs, our social networks and our FOMO. We do this is in the effort to succeed and keep everyone happy, even though it is resoundingly counterproductive.

At Juggle Strategies we are passionate advocates for flexibility and yet we also acknowledge it’s dark side, as without careful boundary setting and the strength and courage to uphold those personal boundaries, many people succumb to the ‘always on’ default. Just because you can work around the clock doesn’t mean you should. Work whenever makes sense within that 24×7 framework but think carefully about what else matters. Make sure you take the time to refresh your energy and to do the things that matter to you as a human being.

Technology also enables flex, allowing you to fulfil more of who you are, to be a thriving and contributing member of work, study, community and family. It can also help us to manage our distractions. There are many apps now whose purpose is to help users become aware of the time they are spending on devices and in particular applications, or to help you manage time away from screens to ‘detox’.

HERE ARE TWO APPS TO HELP YOU STAY ON TRACK WITH YOUR OWN GOALS FOR 2018;

Thrive app helps you take back control of your time and set a boundary on your digital connections to allow deeper connections in the real world for specific periods of time. For example: you can set times for breaks from your device and the app will notify people who text you within those times that you are offline for period of time, but let VIP calls through.

Checky – the average person now checks their phone 2,617 times a day, astonishingly at the top end some users are checking in 5,427. Think about this for a moment. If you sleep just 6 hours a night, this only leave 1,080 minutes in a waking day….. so that’s pretty much become a digital umbilical cord. This app will measure how often you are drawn to your phone so you can consciously decide if that is where you want it.

And my last tip can’t be outsourced. It comes down to a brave conversation with your manager at work to be clear about the outcomes you need to achieve in your role, and how you intend to deliver those without burning out or diminishing the other areas your life.  Think flexibly, the way things have always been done is not the only way. It’s important to prepare by thinking from your managers perspective, what will be their concerns and how can you mitigate those?  Think who your other stakeholders are – your customers both internal and external, people who depend on your work for their own, think about your collaboration needs versus your individual efforts. Go prepared with a plan for how you want to work that is effective and productive for the business as well as supports your personal goals.

And then get back to implementing those New Year Resolutions, it’s never too late.

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