Last week during my Free, 5 Day, How to Control your Work Life Balance challenge, the day 4 exercise was all about switching off.
We did an important breathing exercise and then we physically removed ourselves from our phones.
I included that exercise for 2 reasons.
1) It's something that I find useful to practice myself. Controlling and managing my state through breathing and putting my phone somewhere where I can't see it and therefore can get distracted.
2) Switching off is a commonly identified desire and challenge of men in our Working Dads Club Facebook group
Q. What do you hope to get from being a member of this group?
"Support and advice on being more present for my family."
"Support and advice to be a better dad and mange my work life so I’m 100% present."
"Strategies to help me enjoy my time with family more by switching off from work mode."
As luck would have it the UK #1 Dad Blogger John Adams has joined the Daddilife “Dads at Work” roster and has written about the metaphorical and literal benefits of switching off.
A couple of highlights for me:
"We need to be in control of our tech, the tech should not be in control of us."
"When you get home in the evening, put your phone away and don’t look at it again until the morning."
Video Inspiration
Everyday in the 5 day Challenge I went live in the challenge Facebook group. The Day 4 live involved me talking about some of the things I learnt as a national league hockey umpire and how to use this to be a more present father.
Elastic bands, focus and controlling your breathing.
Well paid, extended parental leave, really matters for gender equality AND it’s a massive PR win