phone-happy

I have lots of ideas for my happiness project, but the ideas are swimming around in my head and it was difficult for me to decide on what to write. It all came to a crunch when a very good friend of mine gave me an article in a magazine about happiness and all of a sudden it all became clear.....

So listen up, this is the happiness checklist according to Professor Happiness himself, Paul Dolan:

1) Don't spend on consumer items, spend on experiences. Money never brings people the satisfaction they imagine.

2) Know when to give up on a relationship. Tell them its over and there is no prospect of your ever going out with them again.

3) Surround yourself with people who bring you joy. Social contact makes us happy.

4) Never, ever make facebook your homepage.

5)Volunteer. A structured form of social contact based around being nice makes us happiest of all.

6) Minimise distractions. Multitasking makes you less productive.

7) Become a neophile, a lover of new activities.

I would add another 20 things to this list, but its a good start point and actually there is one that i want to focus on that kind of relates to my last post - number 6: Minimise distractions.

So how is my sleep going from my last blog. Badly. I am shattered. 7 hours are just not enough, and to be honest the last 2 days I have been sleeping 8 hours a night. I started to reflect upon the 4 hours that were proposed by highly effective people. Did they have a nap at lunch? Do they have a full on life with kids to care for, housework to do?  And what is the long term effect of so little sleep? So I decided to go back to my first golden rule, be me. I am going back to 8 hours of sleep.  When I am less tired, I am certainly happier.

And the phone? That is not going well either. I am having phone withdrawal symptoms. I feel some void in the night when I can't fiddle with my phone. But I have actually come to realise that my phone is point number 6, the biggest distraction in my life.  Given that I was so reluctant to get a smartphone because I am NOT a neophile, now I have had one for a few years, I am obsessed with it. Not good. So for the nights: Phone - you are still banished to the outer realms of my living room.

My phone is a distraction both in day and night. Although we have strict rules at home about phones at dinner time (a total no no), I do find myself leaping at its beckon call everytime it beeps. Really, do I need to know ever single email as it arrives? Or facebook like?  I am a slave to my phone. The distraction it induces prevents me from doing other things. So, new rule. At work, the phone is staying in the bag. Work colleagues, you are not testament to this. If you need to contact me between 9am-5pm, use my good old fashioned office phone!!