Good Morning {{first_name}}
I want to talk about something I started recently.
A screen time challenge.
It wasn’t planned. It came from a simple moment.
I opened my phone settings and saw my screen time.
It was around 9–10 hours a day.
Most of it was social media.
Instagram. TikTok. Endless scrolling.
And I realised something quite important.
It wasn’t just “wasting time.”
It was slowly taking away my focus, my energy, and my spark for work.
Like trying to run with weights on your ankles. You can still move… but everything feels harder than it should.
Why I started the challenge
I didn’t want to “quit my phone.”
I just wanted control back.
I wanted my phone to be a tool again… not something that pulls me without thinking.
What changed on Day 1
Something weird happened.
I kept reaching for my phone out of habit.
Like muscle memory.
Swipe. Tap. Scroll.
But TikTok wasn’t there.
Instagram wasn’t there.
And every time, it was like my brain said:
“Stop. You don’t do that anymore.”
So I stopped.
And I’d either:
pick up a book
go back to work
or just do something useful
The difference it made
Very quickly, things started to change.
It felt like my day got longer.
Not in hours… but in space.
Like when a car full of clutter gets cleared out same car, but suddenly you can actually move, see clearly, and everything feels easier to use.
I started:
Getting more work done
Feeling more accomplished
Having more energy
Balancing gym, work, and family time properly
For once, it didn’t feel like everything was fighting for attention.
The hardest moment
The hardest part wasn’t boredom.
It was habit.
I almost went into a scroll session without thinking.
Just autopilot.
But I caught it early:
Open Instagram → Stories → Post → Leave
That structure saved me.
Because I didn’t argue with myself.
I just followed a simple rule and exited.
What changed overall
The biggest change was this:
Mornings stopped starting with scrolling
I became more present with my family
Work felt clearer
My day felt more controlled
Even simple things like eating or working felt more intentional.
A simple blueprint you can use
This was my screen time challenge.
But you can apply the same idea anywhere in life.
Let’s say you struggle with a habit you want to change (like eating junk food, skipping the gym, or procrastinating).
Here’s a simple system:
Identify the habit (What is it you want to stop doing?)
Find the trigger (What causes it?)
Remove friction (Make it harder to do the bad habit)
Replace it (Swap it with something better like fruit instead of junk food, or push-ups when you feel the urge)
It’s like a path in a park.
The more you walk one way, the easier it becomes to go that same way again.
So you don’t need more motivation.
You need a better system.
Final thought
It’s not about removing social media forever.
It’s about changing its place in your life.
From something you need…
To something you choose.
Like sweets and chocolate
Nice sometimes.
But not something that you want to eat your whole day.
Talk soon,
Yousaf