MAP Strategic Wealth Advisors

Eight takeaways:

The average American spends over three hours daily on their phone, and Gallup polls reveal that most people feel they overuse their devices. Excessive screen time has been linked to various potential downsides, according to multiple studies: disrupted sleep, eye strain, reduced attention span, increased stress, and even a diminished capacity to build real-life social connections. Experts warn these risks are even more significant for the developing brains of children.

But not all is lost. Here are 8 expert-backed tips for reducing your screen time.

1. Take Short Breaks Daily: Whether in a drawer, another room, or inside a timed lockbox, leave your phone in a secluded place for a specific amount of time each day.
2. Delete Time-Wasting Apps: It doesn’t have to be a permanent deletion, but getting your most time-intensive apps off of your phone will kickstart the process of reducing your brain’s reliance on it.
3. Mute Noisy Notifications: The constant pings of notifications coming in can create an urgency associated with your phone, which can lead to a compulsion. Go into your phone’s settings and turn off notifications for your buzziest apps.
4. Go Gray: Phones are strategically designed to capture our attention with vibrant colors and engaging designs. Switching your screen to grayscale can help loosen their grip by dulling the visual appeal. You can keep your phone in grayscale all the time or use it only when actively trying to reduce screentime.
5. Build Up Your Attention Stamina: Your attention span can be trained, like a muscle. To do this, silence your phone and set a timer for a beginner-friendly 15 minutes. Place your device face-down, committing to not touch it until the timer goes off. This will become much easier with practice.
6. Arm Yourself With Alternatives: When working to replace an unhelpful habit, it’s essential to have healthier alternatives at the ready. Explore new hobbies, dive into books, create art, exercise, spend time in nature, or connect with others face-to-face. Engaging in slower, purposeful activities soothes the mind and helps expand your attention span.
7. Enlist Friends and Family: Turn your screen-time reduction into a team effort. Set boundaries with family, like no phones during meals, or lead by example by avoiding social media while with friends.
8. Track Your Progress: Making changes is easy; sticking with them is harder. Make sure to monitor your progress by reviewing your goals; check weekly screen time stats and adjust as needed.

As always, celebrate the wins! Phone use can be difficult to regulate because the phone has so many useful applications– so, especially in this case, remember that small, incremental reductions in screen time can still be major wins.

By Courtney Lindwall for Consumer Reports
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Three takeaways:

Although it may seem counterintuitive, treating a New Year’s resolution as an exercise in self-control or willpower is a common misunderstanding. A well-selected resolution is grounded in activities or habits that you already enjoy.

Behavioral scientist BJ Fogg highlights the value of building on activities that already bring you satisfaction. For example, if the goal is to eat healthier, it’s more effective to focus on incorporating nutritious foods you already like rather than forcing yourself to eat ones you don’t enjoy. “Help yourself do what you already want to do,” Fogg says. “And help yourself feel successful.”

Along with selecting habits that already conform to your interests, these tactics can help you make sure these habits stick:

1. Get specific and plan for obstacles: “I want to get in shape” isn’t precise enough. Instead, set a specific resolution- to run 10 miles or to bench press an amount of weight by a certain date on the calendar. This forces you to get practical about how you are going to achieve the goal, providing a clear map on the road to making that goal a reality. Thinking practically about your goal will help you forecast– and then overcome– the logistical or mental forces standing in your way.
2. Use small, simple habits: When working to change your behavior, set the bar low to ensure the habit is easy to maintain. On days when you feel motivated, you can do more, but the key is to make the habit achievable every day. For example, commit to doing one push-up each morning at a specific time rather than aiming for 20.
3. Set routines with friends: Build a new habit with a friend or loved one to hold yourself accountable. Survey after survey has shown that taking on a goal with a partner leads to not only greater accountability, but greater overall enjoyment of that task.

By approaching goal-setting with mindfulness and intention, we can turn our New Year’s resolutions into lasting habits that provide lifelong benefits.

By Teddy Amenabar for The Washington Post
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Note: At the time of this posting The Washington Post requires an account to view the article.

Five takeaways:

These days leading into the beginning of a new year present an opportunity for thoughtful reflection and setting clear intentions. If you’re aiming to establish a stronger foundation for success in 2025 or considering a major career change, here are five ways to shape your vision and chart the best path forward.

1. Reflect: Be honest, but not too harsh, in looking back on the year gone by. Did you reach the goals you’d hoped to? What worked, and what didn’t work? What things made your feel motivated and excited– and what moments made you lose excitement or motivation?
2. Keep an eye on Jobs of the Future: The job market is a rapidly shifting sea. New industries are emerging constantly, and with them come new career opportunities. Look for areas of growth and increasing need, and – through industry research and self-assessment– pursue avenues where your skillset/experience fit into that growth.
3. Network: Whether in person, over the phone, or via email, the end of the year can be a good time to check in with colleagues, friends, or other business contacts about the year ahead. Be respectful of holiday schedules in interacting with others of course. Also– sign up for end-of-year industry events and industry news email newsletters.
4. Develop Your Skills: Take some end of year downtime to sharpen your core skills. With emerging tech standing to decrease the relevancy of our existing skillset, it is always a good idea to be diligent about improvement and development.
5. Take Time Off and Disconnect: Finally, use the holidays to rest and recharge after a busy year. Step away from work (emails can wait) and focus on yourself. Once refreshed, start applying these tips to work on your career, not just your job, in the year ahead!

by the Hays Career Blog
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Four takeaways:

While difficult to do amid the stress of our daily lives, making time for hobbies and activities that bring joy and fulfillment have been shown to reduce stress, prevent burnout, and enhance overall well-being. Long term neglect of these passions, however, may lead to boredom, dissatisfaction, and even depression.

Here are some key tips for making sure you make the time for your passions:

1. Prioritize Your Time– Look at your schedule for spots of 30 extra minutes or small windows where you might be able to fit in some time to read up on or practice your hobby. Look for meetings and weekly tasks that can be grouped or consolidated to free up time in your schedule.
2. Set Realistic Goals– Once you’ve found time in the schedule, do not waste it by setting unachievable goals. Start slow and do not expect yourself to master a hobby or passion overnight. Doing so will negate the positive effects of pursuing the hobby, and make it far more likely that you stop pursuing it in the long term.
3. Combine Your Passions with Other Activities– If your schedule is packed to the point of inflexibility, look for ways to bring your passions into other activities. Listen to audiobooks as you commute or do less mentally strenuous work. Incorporate your hobby into your social life, if possible– scheduling activities like group hikes or knitting circles.
4. Make Your Hobbies Portable– Bring your passion with you wherever you go. If you are an erstwhile writer or poet, bring a notebook with you. If you are a yoga enthusiast, be intentional about bringing your yoga mat with you on business trips, or to and from work– and then find a place to practice is that is easily accessible within your daily routine. This helps you maximize your opportunity to take advantages of small, but important windows in your routine.

Your hobbies and passions are an absolutely essential part of who you are. Making time for them is essential to your selfhood, and will have positive effects on all other aspects of your life.

By by Mindsol
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