If you’d like to learn how to improve all aspects of your life so you can live more well-rounded, sign up for the free 90-Day Master Class hosted by the founder of Addicted2Success.com, Joel Brown.

As entrepreneurs and leaders in business, we can be passionate about technology. We’re often early adopters, seeing the opportunities before anyone else, and eager to share it with our network. But spending too much of our time in technology can harm us and even set us back.

Google “anxiety and cell phone use.” You’ll be amazed at what you find. Some studies mention the rising blood pressure rates when a smartphone is in proximity. Others mention how mental health has grown worse because of the increased use of social media and other digital tools.

While technology has made our lives better and more productive, the addiction and overuse of it can hurt us and limit our opportunities in life. When we choose to do a short digital detox, we begin to reset our bodies and minds. It’s a way to evaluate what is important in our lives, and it allows us to experience a more peaceful and fulfilling lifestyle.

Here are some benefits you can expect from a digital detox: 

1. It Clears Your Mind

Similar to what a nutrition-based detox does for your body, a digital one resets your mind. It clears all the clutter you have accumulated for hours every day.

Think about your ears for instance. How much noise do you hear every day? When you are commuting, you listen to a podcast. When you are working, you listen to music. You chat with friends on video or the phone. You hear notifications go off every couple minutes. When you go to bed, you might listen to an audiobook.

Your ears rarely have a moment of silence. That’s not including other senses like the time you spend watching a screen. As we consistently entertain ourselves, we are filling up our minds with unprecedented amounts of information. We barely even process what we see and hear.

All these digital devices, apps, and social networks are stimulating your mind and body. It never stops. The human body was never designed to handle so much, so often, in such little time.

It’s no wonder why anxiety continues to rise. When you press pause, you give your mind a chance to reboot and start over. You make better decisions and improve how you interact with the relationships in your life.

Your mind is clear and able to identify opportunities. You equip your mind to create the life you’ve wanted when you protect it and use it for what matters most to you.

“It takes energy, mental toughness and spiritual reinforcement to successfully deal with life’s opportunities, and to reach your objectives.” – Zig Ziglar

2. It Boosts Your Creativity

Think of all the times you should have been doing something but got distracted by your phone or an open tab on your web browser. When we are bombarded with distractions, it’s hard to stop and focus.

When we don’t have digital distractions, we can increase our creative output. We can think clearly now and we can better utilize the resources available in front of us. We can use the extra silence to come up with ideas that can benefit us for years to come.

Much of the lost potential we experience is linked to not allowing ourselves to remove distractions and focus on creativity and output. Think of how a new revenue stream, book, or project can change your life. All it takes is one good idea. But how do you develop one when you distract yourself all day? When we detox, we set ourselves up for possibilities.

3. It Forces You to Reflect

Whether it’s notifications on your phone or scrolling endlessly on social media, we find it hard to reflect. When was the last time you stopped for 10 or 15 minutes and thought about your life? Was it today? A week ago? Or has it been months?

When we don’t reflect, we fall in danger of losing ourselves. Reflection allows us to review the day and our goals. We analyze the good and bad things that have happened; what we can do better and what makes us happy.

Reflection helps us define our identity and what is important to us. You can ask yourself if a big decision or career move actually aligns with what you want in life. It keeps you rooted in who you are.

Think of the people who gained everything they wanted in business but lost their family along the way. Or the leaders who fought so hard for their goals but couldn’t even recognize the person they turned into. Reflection reminds us of our priorities and helps us stop anything that may sneak up to threaten them.

A digital detox allows us to reflect on our lives and be appreciative of what has brought us to today.

“Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.” – Thomas Jefferson

4. It Gives You Much Needed Rest

I don’t know about you, but the opportunity to nap or find rest throughout the week can be hard to come by. Statistics show that we sleep less than ever. That can decrease our lifespan and quality of life.

The problem with finding time to rest is that we don’t recognize it. Available time to rest exists more than we think. We’re often on our phones hours a day. When we are at home, scrolling down an app, we lose the time we can rest on our patio or spend with family.

When we put away our devices, we aren’t tempted to ignore opportunities for rest. Our bodies weren’t made to be active every second of the day. They need moments to recharge. A detox makes it possible.

This energizes us and reminds us of the importance of maintaining our health.

Everyone should do a detox at least once a year. Detoxes are a great way to reboot your system and help establish new habits in life. Try a short detox for a few days and see how it affects you.

Have you ever tried a digital detox? If so, how was it?