Avoiding the “always on” trap keeps you and your business fresh and thriving. And Yes… it’s possible.
Just ask Jess Davis, who left a 10+ year career as a digital strategist for high tech clients to focus on what she calls analog life — the rejuvenation of offline living in an on-screen world. She founded Folk Rebellion in 2014. The business sells apparel and accessories, creates blogs and in-print resources and runs events like Digital Detox Under the Stars. All of Folk Rebellion’s content and products are centered on tangible, personal, in-the-moment health and wellness.
To Jess, it’s more than a business model. Incorporating off-screen time and productivity were key to her launch success: “We are conditioned to believe that multi-tasking, non-stop work days and long hours produce results. In fairness….they do. Just not great ones and definitely not the best ones. I knew to create the business I wanted, I needed to be rested, allow time for free flowing ideas. And I needed movement and play time to breath life into those ideas.”
A work mantra that is catching on. Jess and her Folk Rebellion message have been featured in Vogue, Delta Sky, Huffington Post to name a few.
Jess shares her 6 life hacks:
- Start the day off right. Mornings should be sacred alone time for your brain. Remove the cell phone from beside your bed. How you can create magic if your brain is always busy?
- Learn about productivity traps. I read a LOT about productivity and how burn out, no play, multi-tasking, etc can create a worse end product. I drew a line in the sand and stuck to it, knowing it would produce better results and a happier me.
- Set communication boundaries and stick to them. Batch emails. Pick times when you will read and respond. Then tell people about your new way of communication. It took 9 months until people really knew I meant business. Now there are no questions.
- Encourage Phone Calls. Manage expectations about when people will hear back from you via email. My email signature explicitly encourages phone calls if I am needed urgently
- Tangible isn’t a bad thing. Replace screens with books or magazines, which help train your brain to read long form and improve focus.
- Check with others to see how well you’re walking your talk. My husband will be the 1st to point out if my cell phone has made it into the bedroom or the laptop is still open as we head to dinner. It happens; there are deadlines you can’t miss. But it’s a slippery slope, so having those extra eyes and ears helps.
Thanks, Jess, for the great tips and for demonstrating that rebellious behavior often produces more profitable outcomes!
