How to Handle "Trello Anxiety"

For digital marketers, the Internet is available and updating 24/7, making it easy to feel like we need to be the same way: constantly reachable.

Unfortunately, without boundaries between work and life, work seeps into the rest of our lives. We get mail alerts, Trello pings, Slack notifications, Asana beeps, all on the same device that we call our friends and families on or unwind with mobile games and social media. 

Four Tens would like to offer you a guide to avoiding what we like to call “Trello Anxiety”, that fear every time your phone goes off or you get an email saying, “Here’s what you missed while you were away...”: 

1. Set up an automatic filter to send all your task review and notification emails to a separate junk folder.
2. Return the favor. For every Trello card someone tags you in, tag them in a corresponding card so they get a notification too. Fair is fair.
3. Put an Out-of-Office auto-response on your email account. Hope that people will stop adding you to new projects. 
4. Become inspired by your OOO message and walk out of the office. Leave your computer and your phone behind too. Go outside and remember what sunlight and fresh air feel like. 
5. Don’t go back to the office.​ Take a sabbatical on a whim. You’d tell your manager, but you left your phone at the office.  
6. Travel abroad. Initially you’ll cringe every time you hear someone else’s phone go off at a train station or in an airport. 
7. Decide to detach yourself from such earthly anxieties. Travel even further abroad and take up yoga and meditation. Slowly, you’ll no longer feel the fear of getting another task management notification ever again. 
8. Another sabbatical-taker asks you when you are going back to your old job. The anxiety returns.
9. Vow never to return to your job again. Travel to rural America and join an Amish community. Learn how to churn butter, drive a buggy, and communicate in-person.
10. Finally, shed the last grips of technological anxiety as you embrace your new identity. 

April Fools!

On a slightly more realistic note, here are a few ways we decompress when we’re bombarded with task management notifications: 

1. When the dread of impending tasks kicks in, put it on your to-do list and go take a short walk. We’re big fans of walking the dogs when things get overwhelming. 
2. Take control of your notifications. Turn them off on the weekends (if you're able to do so) or after hours.
3. Filter your view so you only see tasks/boards/assignments that you're involved with.
4. After staring at a computer screen all day, your eyes feel tired. Use a timer to remember to look away every 20-30 minutes​ to prevent eye strain. 
5. Whether you’re combating feeling overwhelmed or under-motivated, try listening to a mindfulness meditation. 
6. Sometimes, you just need to turn your phone off and get away from it all!