Today was my first official day back at work as a systems coach for an educational services agency.
We were asked to go on to LinkedIn to post a comment about what we were reading on a social media post.
I almost protested - I am off social media! - but realized this was not in the spirit of the declutter.
But are there times when we need hard and fast rules with these digital tools?
This question reminds of a scene from The Odyssey. As technologist Cory Doctorow tells it in this article, Ulysses had his sailors tie him to the mast of his ship. He knew that if he heard the sirens' calls, he would dive into the water and drown. He wanted to hear the sirens' call; otherwise, he would have plugged his ears with wax.
He made what's now called a "Ulysses pact". You are binding yourself to the future. If you don't want to do something, then remove access from that option. As Doctorow aptly puts it, if you don't want to eat the Oreos, then get the Oreos out of the house.
Becoming an adult is a process of learning that your strength comes from seeing your weaknesses and protecting yourself and the people who trust you from them.
When I went back on to LinkedIn and shared that I am currently reading Saving Time by Jenny Odell, I also succumbed to the red numbered notifications and clicked on them.
None of them were related to an actual interaction with another person on Linkedin.
For example, I was asked to congratulate a person I am connected with for staying with their employer for the last ten years.
I also had a direct message from a university, asking if I was ready to start pursuing my Ph.D.
Both disappointed and pleased that I none of my notifications were worth my attention, I shut down the LinkedIn page and went to my office. On my whiteboard, I wrote out some of the big projects I needed to finish this summer.
Setting up my environment for focus and successful productivity is so important. I find that leaning on analog tools to be one of the best ways to cultivate this presence.
Not that I am against technology when it's needed. For example, I will likely add some of these projects to my calendar app, Motion, to find time to complete these projects, especially the ones where I partner with other coaches/consultants.
For me, binding ourselves to a mast is about what I need and what I am willing to tolerate to achieve a goal.