Five years ago, I cut down my stress by 50% in one move: I banned WhatsApp for official work.
Before that, we were using WhatsApp at our startup, and over the years, I had created dozens of WhatsApp groups. Soon, I was mindlessly checking and responding to messages every few minutes.
And as a bonus, every time I checked WhatsApp, I would also get to see messages from the whole world. 😊
I had no peace of mind. And if I was this distracted, would my team’s fate be any different?
So one day, I banned WhatsApp for official work and moved my startup to Slack. Later, I even deleted WhatsApp from my phone.
Finally, peace! Phew.
I am not saying everyone should do that. And Slack can also be very distracting. But, at HabitStrong, we minimize Slack usage and there is no pressure to respond quickly (for urgent things, we call).
If you are using WhatsApp for official work, see if it is causing more harm than good.
Yes, WhatsApp is fast. But remember: Infinite connectivity brings infinite interruptions. Nothing in this world comes free.
– Rajan