Techno Burnt - Don't Let Technology Eat You Alive

Too many hours of fun button pushing can leave your fingers sore, text your hand into a painful place, and leave your brain fried. Too many hours of the boss demanding that the report be finalized and the figures verified through goodness knows what level of Crystal reports or Excel or Oracle database [1] can leave your mouth feeling dry and worthless. Too many hours of wondering why in the world you ever decided to do what you are doing with the darn computer in the first place, can leave you feeling empty and burned out. [2] These aren't taking into consideration the real fun which comes at the hands of the Internet and it's many varied avenues of distraction, much less, the television and movie entertainment available to us, and the question is, to what end for you personally? The point being, you still feel burned out, and it is the technology which is doing it to you. [3]

Technology is sophisticated in how it burns you out, but in the end, the same empty left out feeling pervades your existence and floods over into the existence of others. If this was a drug, we'd send you to rehab, but it's not, it's life in the now, and it's not gonna change, technology isn't going away, so one answer must be, what can I change to make my life result not to feel so darned burned out? [4]If you are feeling that statement then this little article will help you, if you know somebody who can identify with that statement then this little article will help them so don't be afraid to share it.

What can you do - here are three perfect workable solutions which will result in your feelings, and life, being much, much better with technology. [5]

1. You can't do the same stuff tomorrow and expect to feel different. By now just about everybody is familiar with Einstein's quote, "Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." [6] Where people disconnect is in the changing of the pattern. Change the pattern. [7]If your pattern is to "hit the computer" at 7, deliberately change that time by ten or fifteen minutes, or an hour, or two; that's up to you, the thing to change is the pattern. If you normally drink a soda while at the computer, don't, if you normally watch T.V. while playing with your laptop, don't- force yourself into the deliberately and intelligently changing of the pattern, and make that change of pattern the smart one for you. Example, if you know that working with your laptop in your lap while taking in the television show splits your working focus, do the work before the show- not after, get it done, then fully devote yourself to the relaxing with the television show you enjoy. [8]

2. Increase your level of exercise. This is deliberate. If you are maxed out on exercise time, decrease it. This is deliberate. [9]Spending more time on fitness than is needed means you are surplus in some other areas of your life that need that time. As a general rule of thumb listen to the experts who say that a half hour a day of exercise is adequate. If you are like me and need an hour a day to control your weight, than take that hour, but don't extend it to lose more weight, instead force the issue of weight control with food control.

Your level of exercise is an absolute, so if you aren't exercising, start- if you are and it's just right for you, and it's within the guides of sound experts on exercise, fine- but if you are pushing a bit more exercise than you need, consider cutting back so that you can take that time and put it into other areas that need it.

3. Plan your life and work your plan. Many years ago I began to tell my students that a ten year plan was simply not realistic; too many things can go absolutely haywire in this world in ten years to make that sort of planning sensible. I was wrong, have ten years laid out, in the very general way- for example, college degrees, desired career; those types of paradigms demand strategic thinking that a ten year plan will encompass, where you will be, what you will be doing, who you will be doing it with, when it will be happening, and why are all part of this big, big picture. Now take that big ten year picture and back it up with the question, how did that occur in just five years? This is the set up question for a five year plan, in two stages- stage one will meet the last portion of the ten year plan, stage two will be the five years leading up to that. Example, obtaining bachelors degree- stage one which is working toward the back end of the ten year plan, would be, I have achieved the bachelors degree and am putting it to work, thus. Stage two of that process would be what school, what subjects, what careers etc. Then take this two stage five year plan and put into process a much more detailed one year at a time plan which starts in the next month. Ramp this plan into the five and you will find yourself taking less wild risks, and more calculated risks, based on a future that you know. [10] This workable future concept relieves stress in your life and reduces the drag of technology against your overall lifestyle by allowing you to leave the technology alone when it isn't part of the plan. It also, by the way, allows you to enjoy the use of the technology as just a purely enjoyable form of information, because you know what tomorrow should bring as you have planned it out.

These three event changing matters will result in a reduction of the power of haphazard technology taking over your mind and emotions while leaving you feeling burned out because the other essentials of your life aren't taken care of.

References

1. It Burn Out: http://blogs.ittoolbox.com/security/dmorrill/archives/lack-of-it-skills-job-burnout-11742

2. Tech Head Burn Out: http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-5358788/Tech-head-are-you-headed.html

3. Brain Resists burn out: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/01/19/eveningnews/main2378248.shtml

4. Research site: http://www.menc.org/networks/rnc/openforum/wwwboard.htm

5. Technology making life better: http://tinyurl.com/2scsyx

6. Einstein quotes: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/a/albert_einstein.html

7. Pattern: http://www.dietdetective.com/content/view/16/2/

8. Sensible change: http://www.rit.org/catalog/books/sensible_psych.shtml

9. Deliberate exercise time: http://healthfullife.umdnj.edu/archives/exercise_health_archive.htm

10. 10 Year plan: http://www.adeduline.org/c/10YearPlan.htm