Turn Off Your Computer

Depending on your inclination, the amount of time spent using a computer (including PDA’s) ranges from little to obsessive.   For most, if you take time to consider it, you wonder how business was ever performed without a desktop-computer.In a recent and non-scientific poll of approximately 50 business owners I asked the question, “How much time do you spend in front of your computer?” It’s a simple question that encompasses a very wide variety of uses ranging from email to architectural drawing. Out of the 50 business owners only two spent less than 4 hours a day interacting with their computer.The first and most obvious question that statistic raises is, if the owner is engaged with their computer for half or more of their work day, who’s running their business? However a more fundamental question is raised in my mind - “How much time do you spend thinking about whether you are more or less effective as a result of various automated activities?”Turn off your computer! First for an hour, then for a day and longer if you can. What I discovered is that my usefulness as a business leader, coach, and consultant was much more effective when I was in front of people rather than a computer. Another byproduct of this experiment was that I found that I “hoarded” information. Documents years old and not used, music and photos that I rarely looked at, and bookmarked links that I never returned to were cluttering my daily business life of sitting in front of my computer. The unfortunate reality each of us as business owners face is we have become victims of believing the computer is the business. It is time to turn off your computer and get focused on your business!I am not suggesting abandoning the computer, just the opposite; I am suggesting that as the business owner you need to move your computer focus towards automation and process distribution. The computer, used effectively and properly, is about automation and leveraging what a computer is best at. The computer is best at performing repetitive tasks and crunching numbers. Gain some perspective and begin to realize that like many, if not most given the noted unscientific poll I took, business owners, you too have fallen into the black hole of technology. Turn off your computer!