Yesterday I was without my cellphone all day. As I drove from appointment to appointment, I would think to myself – “Oh – I need to call Shelly to firm up that demo for next week” or “I should really get on the phone with Tony to make sure he got the samples I left for him”. And I would reach for my phone. And it wasn’t there. So I was forced to sit quietly with my thoughts, (and Journey on the radio). And something pretty amazing happened. IDEAS. My brain was flooded with ideas. Ideas for blog topics (I netted SIX in six hours). Ideas for promotions to help tell prospects about how I can help them make more money. And, I’ll admit it, ideas for how I will spend the MegaMillions jackpot that I am sure to win, due to my new strategy (since I travel around the south suburbs so much, I have taken to stopping at different locations several times a week to spread the luck around and further increase my chances of winning – SOLID idea, right?)
And I got to really LIKING not having my cell phone with me. Now, I know this is not a sustainable way to operate – I simply HAVE to be accessible to clients, colleagues, and prospects. But what if I gave myself just a few chunks of time a week without the boat anchor of connectivity at my fingertips? What kinds of ideas would materialize in those stolen moments of silence and concentration? So I’m going to try it. I have my phone back now, but for 20 minutes or so a couple of times a week, I am going to silence my phone while I’m driving, blogging, or making sales calls, and we’ll see what happens. I might just come up with some solutions to some of my (or the world’s) biggest problems. Or, I might just come up with one more topic to make you go h’mmmmm.
So what if you tried it? What if you left the press floor, or closed your office door, turned off the phone, and just sat in the silence (Journey is optional). What kinds of ideas would YOU come up with? Do me a favor – Give it a try and tell me how it goes – you can just leave a comment here on the old blog – I can’t wait to hear what happens to YOU!
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I agree with you but not just in the case of the cell phone. I am, like many sales reps, a big fan of talk radio. This can waste a lot of time during the day when the problem solving you describe can be accomplished. I was without a radio for several days recently and could not believe the number of solutions I conceived during that time. I have since turned it of during part of the day but admittedly still listen to Rush.
ReplyDeleteI agree whole-heartedly. I actually appreciate those few times I forget my cell phone. I recognized the first time how much calmer & focused I was. I'm a bit concerned about the younger generations and how their communication skills (or lack of) will develop. With the constant distraction of text messaging, they don't know how to focus on one task at a time get it done. Multi-tasking can be over-rated, and sometimes more stressful than a quiet linear approach. I think setting aside chunks of uniterrupted time can be extremely effective.
ReplyDeleteKatie