Why Ed Sheeran still sticks to an old New Year's resolution to not use a cellphone
Earlier this month, singer Ed Sheeran reposted a message he sent to his fans two years ago about ditching his cellphone in order to live a more productive and fruitful life.
In an interview on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show," the musician explained how getting rid of his phone was an old New Year's resolution he made to himself to help relieve stress.
"I bought an iPad, and then I just work off of email, and it's so much less stress," he said. "I don't wake up in the morning and have to answer 50 messages of people asking for stuff. It's just like, I wake up and have a cup of tea."
Sticking to his New Year's resolution, Sheeran says that unplugging from his phone and social media has brought a lot of balance to his life.
"I feel like life is all about balance, and my life wasn't balanced," he told E! News. "Taking it all off the scale balanced it, oddly enough."
Similar to Sheeran's no-phone resolution, media mogul Arianna Huffington has also developed a method that helps her to completely unplug and be more productive.
She explains to CNBC Make It how she literally tucks her phone in every night by using a charging station that looks like a bed.
"You put your phone under the blanket and you tuck it in and say goodnight," she says, while adding that taking a break from your device is a simple yet crucial well-being tip that not enough people follow.
Although Sheeran's dedication to his goal may be uncommon, as research shows only about 8 percent of people achieve their New Year's resolutions, his commitment is not impossible.
According to leadership expert Michael Hyatt, the best way to follow through on your goals is to be as specific as possible, understand the why behind your actions and to have a strategy to execute your plan.
"Goals are about growing," he explains in his book "Your Best Year Ever: A 5-Step Plan for Achieving Your Most Important Goals." "A good goal causes us to grow and mature. That's because every goal is about the journey as much as — even more than — the destination."
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