Fola Daniel Adelesi: Avoid Burnout by Leveraging Technology for Productivity

Technology has many undeniable advantages and some disadvantages that cannot be ignored. We all know that we can educate ourselves by using technology. We can also lose focus by the many distractions brought to us through technology. If we are not careful, the same technology that was primarily designed to help us achieve our goals will be the bane of our numerous and lofty goals.

In this time and age, you would think that no one needs to be told to leverage technology for their benefits until you meet people who still do not want to schedule video calls but prefer to have physical meetings. You would think that everyone knows the benefits of technology and should always use them until you meet people who would tell you they don’t trust anything online.

Without the disruption of the recent global pandemic, the world was already heading towards leveraging technology for remote work and so many other things. If you are going to be relevant in this time and age, you cannot afford to stay away from technology or continue to defend your reasons for not wanting to use platforms offered by technology. You have to embrace technology or be forcefully sidelined.

Take a look at your regular phone today. It is called a smartphone for a reason. A phone, when it was designed, was just supposed to make calls to other people. The phone went further to helping to text people. It went further to instant messaging where you could have conversations with people. Gradually, our phones started having cameras to take pictures and record videos. As this feature improved, the need for photographers reduced. The need to buy expensive digital cameras also reduced. Today, our phones have become work tools. Some people no longer have laptops and have not had one in a long while because their smartphones can achieve a number of the things they intend to.

As smartphones became smarter, some people’s jobs became threatened and eventually relegated, either for not diversifying or leveraging technology. I have given you this smartphone analogy to let you know that technology will come up with innovations that we can’t resist. We can only embrace and leverage them.

There are people today who are still talking about how much they do not have and why they cannot go to school. While you’re talking about not having enough money to go to school and get a good degree, there are millions of courses being completed online daily. People are now attending classes on YouTube to learn fashion design. I learnt a bit of photography on YouTube as well. Billions on videos are being released daily and many more will continue to be released that you can watch to add a skill or any other value to yourself. Apart from videos available online, there are several websites that run free courses for you to attend and earn a certificate. Stop complaining about the degree you could not afford. Now it’s easier to get a smartphone, data and you’re ready to start learning.

If you’re a businessman, you need to leverage technology. If you refuse to, you will be like the man being referred to in the Bible when the Bible said the labour of a fool wearies him. Why does the labour of a fool weary him? It’s simple. You refuse to take advantage of solutions that already exist in order to multiply your impact and reduce the time spent getting the result. To date, some people still think they do not need a website that can showcase them to the world, help them take orders for their products or services and process payments seamlessly.

Whatever it is that you’re doing, there is someone who has already thought about an easier way for you to get it done. This person created machines, apps, websites and many other things. Leverage them. When you leverage technology, you’re bound to reduce the stress you go through and spend more time on the most important things. You can also serve more people within a shorter time and still make more money to become productive in life.

Don’t let your labour weary you. Take advantage of what already exists.

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