This past weekend, my husband and I got more than we bargained for on a trip to Big Sur. Upon arriving at our hotel, we discovered that it was a bit more rustic than we had anticipated - no TV, Wi-Fi, or cell phone service. It’s 2013. Don’t all hotel rooms have TV at least?! As our initial shock wore off, we were pleasantly surprised to find that we had a lovely evening reading by the fire, complete with an early bedtime. And so began our weekend of being unplugged.The next morning, we woke up refreshed and swapped Facebook for sipping tea and chatting. That day we hiked, ate a leisurely lunch overlooking the ocean (I was only slightly disappointed that I couldn’t Instagram the view), saw a waterfall and enjoyed a few beers at a local pub. Throughout the day, I couldn’t believe the time when I looked at my watch. As strange as it sounds, time seemed to slow down.As far as I know, Big Sur has not been credited with the phenomenon of causing time to literally slow down, so the only logical reason I could come up with was the fact that we were unplugged. There was no checking my work emails, or seeing who had liked my status on Facebook or reading about the odds of the 49ers winning the Super Bowl. We found that by focusing on what we were doing in the present moment, the day lasted longer.This unintended experiment made me think of an article I read recently in the Wall Street Journal discussing how distractions decrease our focus at work. The article argues that interruptions caused by these distractions can cause us take up to 23 minutes to return to the task at hand. Obviously it would be impossible to completely remove digital distraction at work, but it did make me think about how we could better manage our time:

• Block off an hour on your calendar each week when you don’t respond to emails and turn the phone on silent.
• Take a tip from this article by getting out of the office and having a walking meeting.
• Give your keyboard a rest for 15 minutes, and use a pen and paper to work.
• If you can’t unplug at work, use your weekends to step away from digital distractions and recharge.

How do you manage to squeeze in some time to unplug? Feel free to share in the comments below!