At the Titan Summit last December, the creator and host Robin Sharma made this bold statement:

“Your phone is costing you your fortune.”

I thought that was a little dramatic but I kept listening and soon realized that something had to change in my own life in terms of technology.

Fast-forward a few months…

There was a week where I couldn’t sleep and felt like a zombie day after day. I knew something had to change but I didn’t know what.

So I posted in a group I’m a part of with fellow 7-figure (and even 8 and 9-figure companies) and my own high-level coach and asked for some support.

I explained the situation and also shared openly that I wasn’t that great (yet) at morning or evening routines, and it would overwhelm me to hear their entire routine (#keepitreal)…

But I was wondering if they could share the ONE thing that moved the needle THE MOST for them in terms of energy and reducing stress.

Now here’s the kicker — they all said different things but one of the common themes that resonated with me was this idea of protecting my sleep.

(HINT: Always see what resonates with you — there will be recommendations that don’t — listen to your gut.)

I never thought about it that way — protecting my sleep.

I’m guilty of looking at my phone late into the night — even email sometimes. With the majority of our clients and team in the US, it seems like we’re always “on”.

I knew this couldn’t continue forever, and frankly didn’t need to.

So I made a few radical decisions…

I let my team know I wouldn’t be available for questions past 6pm.

We implemented a “Questions for Emily” tab in Basecamp (our team organization tool where we put all of our tasks and keep track of projects) where they had to post their questions for my by 5:30pm.

I turned my phone on airplane mode from 7pm onward and didn’t look at it at all.

James and I had already removed the TV from our bedroom last year, but if you still have one in your room, I highly recommend you remove it.

And here’s what happened…

I slept better.

I didn’t miss anything — in fact, I felt much more organized and my team stepped up to the plate and took initiative since I wasn’t around to answer questions. (This literally happened the first day we implemented this which really proved the of this step power to me!)

It didn’t always work especially during our launches but I’d say 90% of the time, I stuck to this practice.
And, I want to give you a bonus tip.

I also realized that to a certain extent, Facebook was ruining my life. (I know, more dramatics.)

Now, I knew it wasn’t ALL of Facebook, but one day I found myself down the Facebook rabbit hole looking at someone’s little girl’s 4th birthday party photo album — someone I didn’t even know! And then saw that someone’s 90-something dad had renewed his driver’s license, and then the next photo was of someone’s trip to Italy (again — I didn’t know this person).

It wasn’t that those posts evoked negative emotions in me, but I had to be real — this time I was spending scrolling was taking me away from my purpose.

Maybe even costing me my fortune and impact.

So here’s what I did…

I spent an hour unfollowing people on Facebook. If I…

Didn’t know them

Didn’t have a relationship with them

Didn’t like what they stood for

Didn’t feel that their posts added value to my life

…I unfollowed them.

I also blocked any ads I didn’t need or want to see anymore.

And you cannot imagine the shift, lovely!

Now this is not a one and done sort of thing so I’m still having to do this regularly to protect my newsfeed and my own time and mindset, but it’s so worth it.

I hope this helps you with simple ways you can protect your time, energy, impact and fortune going forward.

P.S. Just a quick reminder that my show the IHML Show is on YouTube and iTunes.