I remember my first Blackberry. I was mesmerized by it. You could surf the Internet and and receive emails? The future productivity would be amazing! Little did I know how it would not only impact not just my life, but also society.

Recently I was living a smartphone driven life of constant distraction. The constant text messages from family and friends, social media apps and the need to obsessively know every detail about sports and politics created a life of distraction. It all created a scattered mind and a non-engaged employee, father and partner. When my wife and I would inevitably get into an argument about my lack of engagement I would deny it and tell her that I had a ‘thirst for knowledge’. It was more a thirst for distraction.

I had zero mental space. My head was so full of useless sports information and random political and current even facts that I had no room for what was right in front of me. We need mental space. It wasn’t until that I stopped obsessing about ever sport, tuned out social media and literally stopped watching the news that I finally realized the mental freedom it created.

Do you want to be better engaged with your spouse or at work? Free your mental space.

How did I do it?

I took a break from sports. Sports from me became an obsession. When I wasn’t watching sports I was keeping up on every game and every transaction. My love of sports became a negative aspect of my life. What could have been something I could share with my spouse, in moderation, became a negative. This break from sports likely won’t be forever, but it’s designed to re-prioritize sports in my life. I’ll probably come back to sports— I really do love the Green Bay Packers after all— but I’ll come back with sports occupying an area of much less importance. In the past I would often be shocked to talk to a buddy who was not aware of the biggest story in sports (that happens daily). Now I love being that guy, the guy who has to hear from others what the current talking point is.

Then I deleted ALL of the apps. All sports and social media apps were deleted. Exiting Facebook is not a permanent thing, but a de-activation to eliminate by addiction and come back later with it taking a less prominent role in my life. For a week after I found myself constantly reaching for my phone to aimlessly look at apps. I encourage anyone who feels that the apps on their phone are being looked at too often to delete them. You’ll be shocked how often you aimlessly look at your phone to find the apps that aren’t there anymore. After a while you won’t need that tiny little dopamine hit that you get every time you go to ESPN.com.

I also blocked non-productive websites from my phone and blocked the Apple Newsfeed. Another measure to avoid myself from constantly staring at my phone consuming non-important information. You can easily un-block certain sites, but it does create an additional step. The added difficulty of getting to a certain website creates the added restriction where you have to decide if you want to enter in the unlock code to go to that site. That additional check reminds you that it’s probably not essential to take that random Tuesday look at ProFootballTalk.

Finally, I began a meditation routine. I cannot stress meditation enough. After listening to people talk about how effective meditation is for years I finally broke down and started the process. It has had immediate impact. I now look forward to my daily 6:30 meditation for how it clears the mind and accelerates my progress toward an effective day. I strongly encourage those interested to check out the several podcasts and apps that are available that focus on meditation.

These are just a few easy steps that helped me free up my headspace towards a more engaged mindset. It’s all about focusing on what is in front of you and what immediate tasks you need to complete.