6 Boundaries to Protect Your Productivity & Mental Health
Be honest - are you on your phone too much? Are you spending so much time on your phone that you’re not getting the important things on your to-do list done? Do you find yourself comparing yourself to people who you’re scrolling past on social media?
In today’s post, learn 6 boundaries to put in place with your phone for better productivity & mental health!
I feel like some of you squirmed when I asked those questions up there because you KNOW that your relationship with your phone is a tad on the unhealthy side, lol - hey it’s okay! I’m here to help! Before we talk about the phone boundaries that I follow, I want to break down why they’re important. Y’all I’m serious - there is a NIGHT AND DAY difference in my mental health and productivity when I follow these versus when I don’t.
I’ll be very honest with you - I used to really struggle with being addicted to my phone. Like pretty hardcore. My husband had to lovingly call me out because I was just so used to my phone being my right hand that I didn’t realize how intense my phone obsession had become.
Not only were my relationships suffering when I was always on my phone, my mental health plummeted too. It’s our job to protect our head and heart space. Being on my phone was how I started my days and how I ended them - how sad to be bookending my day with my freaking phone. That does not sound life-giving at all. And I can tell you from experience - it wasn’t.
I don’t know your specific relationship with your phone. Maybe your phone doesn’t prompt feelings of comparison and imposter syndrome to creep in but for you, maybe it’s just a big old time suck. You find yourself dreading the end of the week screen time report that iPhones give you because you’re just like, “I SPENT HOW MUCH TIME ON THIS THING?”
So whether you are trying to reclaim your time or better protect your mental health and relationships, I want to share with you 6 phone boundaries that I’ve put in place that have drastically (for the better) changed how I use my phone.
1️⃣ Give yourself time parameters to be off of your phone.
This one has been major in healing my relationship with my phone. Here’s what I do: I don’t check my phone an hour before bed or an hour after I wake up. That’s it - simple. I’m telling you, this has been a GAME CHANGER for my mental health. I shared this strategy with some of the gals in the Hustle Sanely Program and they can’t believe how much of a difference it makes, too. Listen - morning routines are meant to energize us and get us mentally prepared to own the day. Evening routines are meant to wind us down and prepare us to get a good night’s sleep. I don’t know about you, but being on my phone does not support either of those.
Leave your phone out of those sacred times of the day.
2️⃣ Designate 1-2 “no phone” activities every day.
This one is pretty straight forward, lol. The purpose of it is to make sure that you are not spending all day hunched over your screen while the world is happening around you. Some of my no phone activities are:
~ When I go on a walk I leave my phone at home
~ When I am doing a HIIT workout I put my phone on airplane mode
~ During my lunch, I go outside and leave my phone inside
~ When I’m driving, I put my phone in the passenger seat
These are things that I do without thinking - example: I take a lunch break every day. I used to think that lunch was a good time to catch up on DMs but it turns out that not being on my phone during my lunch break helps me to mentally recuperate (and actually enjoy my food rather than scarfing it down without tasting it because I’m so focused on my scroll) which allows me to be more productive when I go back into my office for the second half of my work day.
When we’re constantly checking our phone during “in between” moments, everything becomes a blur. When I do this, it instills a sense of franticness in me because I’m not fully paying attention to my surroundings. Takeaway here - choose 1-2 things that you do every day and deem them as no phone activities.
3️⃣ Turn notifications off.
You know - those little red bubbles and banners that are constantly gracing your phone screen - get rid of em. Those things are a freaking distraction, seriously. Your attention is being stolen every time one pops up on your screen. Even if you don’t open the app, you still stop what you’re doing and look at the notification on your phone usually - derailing you from whatever you were trying to focus on. Do you want to know what notifications I have enabled on my phone? The phone app. That’s it. I recently turned my text message notifications off and WHOA BUDDY talk about freeing.
Now, I am in control of my time. I choose when I am going to check Instagram DMs, Facebook group posts, and text messages. I am no longer dropping what I’m doing moment to moment to be at the mercy of these notifications.
You don’t owe anyone being reachable all the time. You do not have to be accessible 24/7. Set boundaries, girl! The important people in my life know that if they truly need to reach me in the moment to call me. You are a grown up. Create boundaries and make them known in the name of not being on your phone 24/7 and being able to protect your mental health and productivity levels.
4️⃣ Check in before you start scrolling.
I’m talking asking yourself, “Hey, how do I feel right now? Do I feel emotionally vulnerable right now? Would scrolling on social media be life-giving or soul sucking in this moment?”
Most of the time, we just grab our phones and start scrolling mindlessly - we don’t even realize how often we do this - hence our shock every week when our screen time reports are embarrassingly high. Imagine if you took an intentional moment before grabbing your phone to assess where you’re at. You’d save so much emotional turmoil - like comparison, stress, doubt, anger, etc - that stems from scrolling Facebook, Instagram, emails when you're not in a solid headspace. We get to choose when we open these apps so let’s be more mindful of how we’re doing so that we can be more intentional about the time we do choose to open them.
And honestly, what I’ve come to learn is, when I do this, I’m only checking my phone when I’m positioned to receive love and give love. This makes the time I am on social media more enjoyable. Get your mind right before you pick up your dang phone and if you’re just in a funk don’t open social media - let your mind rest.
5️⃣ Create physical distance.
If all else fails - put your phone out of reach. Like forreal. When you first start implementing these new phone boundaries you might be tempted to still reach for it - out of habit or because you are just not being disciplined. I love y’all but it really does come down to discipline. If this is the case - get up, walk across the room, or yet to a different room, and put your phone there.
When I’m working on something and I’m wanting my full attention to be on that task, I put my phone on the other side of my office. Not having it in reach lessens the temptation to grab it and start scrolling to distract me from what I need to be doing. If Adam and I are on a date and we’re having a no phone date, I don’t have my phone in reach.
Set yourself up for success. Get it outta there!
6️⃣ Determine where your value comes from.
Hint: It’s not from the number of followers you have or likes you get on a post, okay? Woosh - this one is real, friends. There have been lots of studies done on the effects of social media likes and followers on our brains. I want to read you a quote from an article that I was reading awhile back:
“Neuroscientists are studying the effects of social media on the brain and finding that positive interactions (such as someone liking your tweet) trigger the same kind of chemical reaction that is caused by gambling and recreational drugs.
According to an article by Harvard University researcher Trevor Haynes, when you get a social media notification, your brain sends a chemical messenger called dopamine along a reward pathway, which makes you feel good. Dopamine is associated with food, exercise, love, sex, gambling, drugs … and now, social media. ”
The article goes on to say that too much social media time can actually alter our brain chemistry. YIKES! I will link the article in the show notes in case you want to read more but social media is an actual addiction. Like a drug. You are chaining your wellbeing to an app. OH HECK NO. If you haven’t already done this before, I highly encourage you to take some time and get super clear on where your value comes from. I know that my value is in being a daughter of Christ. There is no app that can strip that from me.
Take some time and get clear on where your value is rooted. Remind yourself of this anytime you are scrolling social media:
My value is not determined by the number of followers I have.
My value is not determined by the number of likes that post got.
My value is only determined by _________________.
When you do spend time scrolling social media, practice healthy scrolling by implementing these boundaries.
If you enjoyed this post, tune into episode 059 of The Hustle Sanely Podcast to listen into this topic!
