ELLE's Tech Titans: Kate Unsworth

Kate Unsworth is the founder & CEO of London based start-up VINAYA, a research and design studio that creates wearable technology.

As part of ELLE's Tech Titans series, she shares her tips for how to make it in the digital world.

MY CAREER IN TECH BEGAN WITH A DIGITAL DETOX

Whilst working as a management consultant I was always online and connected to email for more than 16 hours a day.

I started to notice how much it was affecting me, so I decided to take a two-week digital detox.

It was after my detox that I set out to improve my digital habits (reducing the time spent interacting with technology) in order to create space in my life for more meaningful activities.

However, I quickly realised that I didn't have access to the necessary 'tools', to make this work. I explored the idea further and spotted a gap in the market, and so Vinaya was born.

I CHECK MY EMAILS ONLY ONCE A DAY (AND SOMETIMES NOT AT ALL)

I used to read emails in bed as soon as I woke up and right before I went to sleep.

I would go to dinner with friends and still be compulsively checking my inbox.

I was convinced that being on email all day meant I was doing a good job, when actually it was the opposite. I wouldn't focus on the task at hand and easily got distracted.

Nowadays I check my emails at most once a day (sometimes not at all), reading roughly 10% of the emails that come through and my productivity has skyrocketed.