What Coaches and Mentors Can Learn from Digital Minimalism
Treating round-the-clock messaging availability as part of good service is the specific trap Digital Minimalism names, and it's an especially easy one to fall into when the people you support can reach you the instant something comes up.
The whole book, compressed
This edition works through 4 core lessons — take them one at a time, not all at once.
What's different for your conditions
Tap whichever ones sound like you. Nothing here is sent or saved — it's just for your own noticing.
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The core lessons, applied to you
Recognizing engineered compulsion
Checking messages between sessions, out of habit rather than because a client actually needs something urgent, is the same engineered pull anyone faces, just wearing a caring justification.
A coach checks messages constantly through the day, and the actual session in front of them gets divided attention instead of full presence.
Notice the next time you check messages purely out of habit between sessions, and set a specific time instead.
Clarifying values, then deciding tools deliberately
Not every channel a client might use needs to be open at all hours; the ones worth keeping active are the few that clearly serve how you actually want to support people.
A coach feels obligated to answer at any hour "just in case," and the resulting always-on availability leaves less energy for the sessions that matter most.
Set one specific window each day for non-urgent messages, and tell clients what to expect so the boundary is clear rather than assumed.
Reclaiming solitude for your own reflection
Good coaching draws on your own clear thinking, and that thinking needs uninterrupted time that a phone within reach rarely allows.
A coach tries to reflect on a difficult client situation in the gaps between messages, and the reflection never gets the sustained attention it needed.
Block one recurring period this week specifically for thinking through your work, with notifications off.
Choosing high-quality leisure over passive scrolling
Recovery after a day of holding space for other people restores more from a genuinely engaging activity than from scrolling, and shows up as more presence in your next session.
Being available for clients and protecting your own reflection time aren't opposites — a clear, communicated response window lets people reach you reliably without your attention being open every minute in between.
Name one thing, honestly
What would change for your clients if you had one dependable response window each day instead of being reachable at all hours?
Good. Now look back at the "Try this" line under whichever lesson feels most connected to what you just wrote, and treat that as this week's actual assignment — not all 4 at once.
The practices from this edition
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Run this for seven days
Block one recurring period this week specifically for thinking through your work, with notifications off.