A notebook to save you from infinite scrolling

If you're wasting a lot of your time doomscrolling through your phone, you might just consider replacing it with a notebook. So in this video I'm not only going to show you how to replace your phone with a notebook, but also why the notebook in many cases actually might be the superior choice. So there are actually three main reasons why you are doomscrolling in the first place. The first one being that you are just overwhelmed. You probably know the situation. There's so much to do, so many tasks in front of you, the to-do list is ever growing and you are just overwhelmed. You don't know where to start. It feels daunting and just like you'll never be able to do it all. So instead of actually starting to work, you're reaching for your phone. And you do that because it gives you a sense of relief and that way you can just distract yourself from all these bad feelings that have just come up. But the problem with this approach is that it doesn't really change anything. Once you stop scrolling, the work is still there. And you might have even worsened the situation by wasting time and now you have even less time to complete your tasks, which will then heighten the pressure, cause a lot of stress and lead to a lot of unhappiness. So this is where the notebook comes into play. Instead of pulling your phone out, you actually should grab a pen and your notebook, write down everything you gotta do and break these tasks down into smaller tasks. Now what that does is that it will make the tasks in front of you less daunting and more graspable in a way. When we have this huge pile of work in front of us, it's very easy to get overwhelmed. But when we understand the single steps we have to take in order to make it happen, it's way easier to wrap your head around it. Also, having banned your tasks on paper will make them more accessible, it's easier to work on them, it's easier to understand what it actually is you have to do. And it will help you to prioritize what is really important and what is not. And in the end, it's actually moving you forward and will help you build momentum. Whereas scrolling through your phone will just postpone the whole problem and stress you out even more. The second reason we are scrolling is just because we are bored. Now the big problem with your phone is that you have it with you all the time. And you can fill these minutes in between waiting for the bus or sitting at the doctor's office just with pulling out your phone and entertaining yourself with it. We have gotten so used to constantly being bombarded with information that it feels incredibly uncomfortable not to do anything for just a couple of minutes. And every time we are pulling out our phone, we are actually ingraining this behavior into our nervous system. So the phone, in this case, just serves as a distraction. But being bored actually is a good thing. Because the best ideas come to us when we have nothing to do. For many people, the best ideas come under the shower or when they are lying in bed, wide awake and not being able to sleep. So these periods of boredom and not doing anything actually can be incredibly valuable. So the next time you are tempted to pull out your phone when you are bored, just hold on a second and really embrace the boredom. And here is where the notebook comes in handy. Because all of these ideas and thoughts that might come up in this period of time can be incredibly eye-opening or just helpful. So you could just grab your notebook and write out your thoughts and your feelings. And that way, your boredom actually serves a purpose. I personally had the best insights about my life when I was bored. When I just didn't have anything to do. And it can be uncomfortable, especially when you are just not used to it. But the more you do it, the more you will see the value in it. The third reason why we are constantly bombarding ourselves with all of this information from our phone actually is that we are curious. Human beings are just curious creatures. And we just want to know stuff. And the intriguing thing about our phones is that there is so much information out there that might possibly be life-changing that we are kind of addicted to getting more and more of it. I personally love self-improvement content. And I've spent so many hours binge-watching one YouTube video after the other about how to improve my life, how to be more disciplined, how to be more confident, whatever it is. But the big problem with all of this was that nothing really stuck. And I never really implemented most of the stuff I learned in these videos. And that's partially because I was constantly bombarding myself with so much information that I was basically unable to retain any of it. If you're constantly flooding your brain with all of this input, it's very difficult to decide what information to keep and what information to just throw away. And you cannot just retain everything. So a lot of the information is lost. Now, the crazy thing is, because you're learning all of this important information, it kind of feels productive to scroll. You feel like you're learning something, you feel like you're growing, you are improving, when in fact, nothing is changing really. But when you really want to learn something, a notebook is incredibly valuable. Because when you learn something new, you can just write it down and revisit it later on. And just the act of writing it down will help you to retain it even better. Also, when you're taking notes, you will be pretty selective about what it is you write down. And you'll write down the most important information. So that way, you're kind of helping your brain to decide what to keep and what to forget about. So a notebook actually is the perfect device to help you learn and grow, while your phone actually only is the ultimate distraction from that. So if you like the idea of putting your phone away and replacing it with a notebook, but you still have great difficulty escaping the gravitation of your phone, I made this video for you where I actually talk about how I reduced my screen time from about 4 hours every day to less than 30 minutes. Enjoy and have a nice day.