Adding Margin To Your Life
Two principles for goal achievement
Introduction
A common pitfall I've noticed online concerning the transition from smartphones to dumbphones is the inclination to think in drastic terms when reducing screen time. Having firsthand experience with the negative effects of excessive screen use, I can empathize with the ambitious goals of communities aiming to eliminate their digital dependence entirely. However, individuals who attempt to cut down their screen time from 8+ hours to just 1 or 2 often encounter similar challenges as those undertaking crash diets1 or sleep deprivation protocols. While there may be initial success, it's common for them to eventually resent the experience and resist a more thoughtful approach to sustainable lifestyle changes.
Recently, I had a conversation with a friend residing on the tranquil island of Kauai. He expressed a desire to adopt a slower work pace and distance himself from his phone, prioritizing more quality time with his daughter and family. His desire is to spend his time well with loved ones instead of being constantly tethered to screens, responding to emails and instant messages. As we discussed his thoughts, he seemed somewhat hesitant to embrace digital minimalism unless the change produced immediate, noticeable results. This dialogue inspired me to outline a more balanced approach to transitioning to a minimalist digital lifestyle with the concepts of margin and goal tracking. By allowing and practicing these two principles, we can establish more realistic and consistent goals to lead a more meaningful life.
Creating Margin in Your Day, Week, or Month
During my master's degree, many of my peers aimed for a flawless 4.0 GPA. While the coursework wasn't excessively challenging, it delved deeper into familiar subjects like philosophy, theology, and ethics, resulting in numerous papers. Despite our capabilities, many fell short due to personal pressure and lack of margin. I recall a classmate's frustration when a cancelled flight led to missing a simple quiz, resulting in an A- for our Ancient Near East course. This incident highlighted the importance of allowing room for life's uncertainties not to disrupt our peace of mind. While margin for error is crucial in deadline-driven environments like academia or project management, its significance is often overlooked in our personal lives. Incorporating margin seems like an afterthought once we leave the study halls, yet it is essential for successful digital minimalism and goal achievement.
While chatting with my friend at his home near the beaches of Kapa'a, I proposed the idea of embracing a digital minimalist approach with built-in margin. Life's unexpected events occur more frequently outside the structured environment of education or other controlled settings, and it's crucial to consider them when setting goals for success. Instead of aiming for an unrealistic reduction from 8+ hours of digital consumption to just 2, why not establish a more manageable target for daily, weekly, or monthly reduction?
For instance, let's say you currently spend an average of 8 hours a day on digital work, entertainment, and other activites2. You could set a goal to decrease this consumption by 5% each day for a month. This incremental approach would allow you to reclaim approximately 25 minutes each day away from your phone or laptop, giving you the opportunity to engage in meaningful offline activities that interest you. Moreover, by acknowledging a margin of error for that month, you recognize that life's interruptions are unavoidable and acceptable for your success. While you may not achieve the full 5% reduction in digital consumption every single day, occasional setbacks don't signify failure. Instead, aim for an 80% success rate throughout the month, meaning you accomplish this reduction for approximately 5 out of 7 days each week or 20 out of 30 days for the month.
With this approach, you have a clear and attainable target each day, week, and month, making the process more manageable. Rather than attempting to quit the internet cold turkey, focus on utilizing those 25 minutes for activities such as light exercise, reading, meditation, or connecting with a friend – activities that can realistically be integrated into your daily routine. This transition marks the beginning of a lifestyle-driven approach, one that prioritizes balance and fulfillment over deprivation.
Monitoring Success through Reflection and Tracking
Once you've established the margin of error for your daily goals, it's crucial to extend to a new principle of reflection and tracking for your long-term aspirations. While aiming for an 80% margin of error in achieving your 25-minute goal is commendable, sustaining progress over time demands greater adaptability and thoughtfulness. Anyone can manage a short-term commitment, but integrating these principles into our lifestyles for the long haul is more challenging than it may initially seem.
Consider my own journey as an example. Previously, I dedicated 12-14 hours daily to digital entertainment and work before documenting my transition offline. Initially, my goal was to restrict screen time across all devices to a maximum of 5 hours per day. While this objective seemed feasible, I soon realized that without consistent reflection and tracking, I often fell short of meeting it. The absence of a structured evaluation system meant I relied solely on fleeting impressions of my progress, leading me down internet rabbit holes and away from my goals.
While having a margin for failure is advantageous for understanding how your goals may be achieved, analyzing the trajectory and consistency of your journey is even more critical. Whether you prefer automation tools like screen time trackers (my personal favorite is Rize) or opt for manual methods like physical monthly habit trackers, gaining insights into your progress is vital. Having tangible data to monitor your progress enables you to objectively assess whether you're improving or stagnating.
I highly recommend conducting a review of your progress every four to six weeks. This timeframe allows for sufficient adjustment to new processes and facilitates thoughtful reflection on what strategies have been effective and which ones haven't. During this evaluation, it's important to ask yourself key questions:
Is the goal truly enhancing my quality of life?
Is its current format appropriately challenging yet achievable?
What external factors are influencing my progress?
How can I seamlessly integrate this goal into other aspects of my lifestyle?
And finally, is my margin for error appropriately balanced, neither too expansive nor too restrictive?
These reflections will act as a guiding compass on your journey toward sustainable success in digital minimalism. Additionally, keeping a log of these reflections will provide valuable context for the next evaluation period. Too often, we overlook the importance of journaling or reflecting on our past experiences, depriving ourselves of the ability to measure our growth over time. By diligently tracking our progress, analyzing data, and reflecting on our thoughts, we gain invaluable insights into not only our current status but also how we can strive for continuous improvement in the future.
Conclusion
My journey toward reducing my online presence is ongoing. While I have not yet achieved my ambitious goal of a full year offline (a lofty aspiration indeed!), I have made significant progress from where I started. Gone are the days of mindlessly spending 12 to 14 hours working, emailing, and binge-watching Netflix shows. Instead, I now prioritize mindful engagement with the internet and meaningful conversations with others.
I continue to improve and strive for further progress. My next target is to extend my offline days beyond just Tuesdays and Saturdays to encompass three consecutive full days. With the help of data tracking and reflection, I am confident that I will reach this goal.
Where will your journey take you? I hope it leads you to exciting places with meaningful connections by your side.
The conclusion of this research article about pros and cons of various diets resonates with our current discussion: "Individuals attempting to lose weight often resort to extreme diets, yet regrettably, none of these approaches appear to yield sustained results in the long term." This reinforces my preference for a lifestyle-driven approach, which I believe offers the most effective solution.
Doomscrolling, ehem.
I liked that you drew a comparison between cutting tech cold turkey and diets/fads - the principle is the same.
I'm training for a triathlon currently and I see this all the time in my running and ridding groups. People get excited, they under-eat and over-train, they want the benefits NOW, failing to understand that it's a process. It takes your body time to adjust, but most importantly your mind needs to understand this as a new routine.
I wrote recently about having deleted all of the social media apps from my phone. It took me a good while to stop reaching out for my phone out of pure habit.
It takes months to build a habit, you can't expect to break it in days.