January Habit

I set out to take a break from the online world back in December.  I stopped reading facebook and online blogs completely for nearly 2 weeks.  I pretty much stayed away from the online world except a little bit of pinterest and responding to message via FB since I use it like email.  I did still communicate through email.  While I was away I learned a lot about myself...

*I don't really enjoy reading about other people's lives as much as I thought I did.  I was simply doing it to procrastinate.  It was causing me more anxiety than I realized!
*I was making unnecessary judgments of people based upon their writings (status updates, postings, etc) and not even realizing it.
*I felt judged by others, especially if I didn't agree or didn't live the same lifestyle.
*I can get so much more done when I'm not procrastinating online!

So in a continuation of this "experiment" I did, I want to be make it more of a habit.  So this month I'm going to set some boundaries online and see what happens by the end of the month.

Boundaries include...

*Checking email 3 times a day (unless I know something important will be coming through...there are always exceptions) - 8am, 12pm, 5pm.  My goal is to stick to this!!  I'm a little nervous just because I run a business that relies heavily on online communication.  If I find this doesn't work, I'll adjust as needed.  This is my starting point.

*Online leisure reading, blogging, etc during days with down time.  I typically have down time an hour each day and when we have lazy Saturday mornings.  No more using it to procrastinate when I should be doing something else!

*FB - I have unsubscribed to people I don't have a close relationship to and have marked "important only" for nearly all my friends so that when I do get on FB I don't have much news showing up in my feed.  This cuts down on feeling the need to get on as well.

*No online stuff on Sundays.  No email, no Facebook, no pinterest, etc unless necessary.

I'll fill you in on what happens at the end of the month.  Let me know if you want to join me!  When I took a break in December I had a friend doing it with me.  It was so nice to know I wasn't alone when I was tempted.