Stop pushing me! | Smartphoning with value instead of with stress and distraction
A friend of mine quitted smartphoning a couple of weeks ago. He doesn’t even bring a phone with him at all: his iPhone gave too much impulses and stress, it even seemed to cause compulsion — like checking mail, news and bank balance every few minutes. Last year, I too considered ditching my iPhone, but ultimately I didn’t — I found a modus in which my phone offers optimal value with minimal distractions and stress.
Ditching smartphones appears to be the new quit smoking. But getting rid of it altogether is too drastic in my opinion: the device offers plenty of value, it’s just a matter of dealing with.
Deep work
In my free time my regime is much more loose — but when I’m working I’m very strict. Otherwise I constantly get stressed out and get things done: I need to enter my deep work/ flow, GTD style.
My bible to get things done is: The war of Art. In this book, Steven Pressfield describes Resistance extensively, an indefinable force preventing you to start or finish things. I’m convinced that the smartphone is the biggest kind of Resistance there ever was.
How do I make sure that I don’t get distracted by my iPhone and get s#*t done:
Stop pushing me, for real!
Most important action: switch off all push notification. I don’t have a single app pushing notification onto my screen. On second thought, I have just two: reminders and agenda items. They make sure I honor my commitments, muy importante.
Fight FOMO yo
A smartphone constantly begs for attention, it’s a proven addiction with negative consequences. That’s why it’s hard to get away from this compulsion, because you constantly want to check if something is going on. It requires discipline to not check what’s happening every single minute. Fight this FOMO.
A few times a day, I check my phone for relevant activities and rarely respond immediately, only when it’s really urgent — but like I said: that’s almost never the case. I will reply to messages and phone calls the moment my work is done, in bulk.
One badge
I only use badges for WhatsApp and messages, meaning I only check my messages a couple of times per day. People know this and act accordingly. You may call me for truly urgent matters, even though it might be necessary to call me a few times, as my phone is on do not disturb mode.
If something is truly urgent, it will get through anyhow. However, the times something is that urgent can be counted on the fingers of one hand, maybe just with one single finger — at least in my case.
Exception: Deadline weeks
An exception in this policy is a deadline week. With the bigger digital projects we undertake we use live production deadlines, usually on Wednesday or Thursday. The days leading up to a deadline often require intensive contact and in those cases I am available ad hoc for said client and colleagues. They are put in my favorite list, allowing them to get past my do not disturb modus.
Which apps I don’t use, you’d expect I did.
What you’d expect, but what I don’t use on my iPhone:
No email app
In relation to what I wrote above: messages requiring ad hoc replies are very rare. That’s why I work through my mail in bulk batches — usually twice a day, at the end of the morning and at the end of the afternoon. I do this using my laptop, which is much faster and way more efficient than fiddling on my iPhone.
No news stream, no widgets and definitely no news apps.
Distraction, distraction, distraction. Steven Pressfield calls it Resistance in The war of Art.
The most important news comes through via other channels (colleagues, friends, family, informal meetings) anyway, the rest is entertainment and distraction and unnecessary, I’d rather have room to breath instead of constant impulses.
I’d rather learn about the world by reading books and long reads: for example, I’m a NPR fan and recently I read Black Flags and The New tsar — ‘the rise and reign of Vladimir Putin’. They bundle relevant knowledge and insights — no ad hoc bar talk.
If you swipe to the left screen on my iPhone, you’ll find an empty screen:
No banking app
I get my banking done on my laptop once a week, and why would I need an app for that? Fiddling around on such a small screen entering bank account numbers, descriptions and amounts. Every ad hoc transaction requires a lot of time relative to the time you spend on your regular banking.
I bought sometimes in a webshop via my smartphone but even that feels uncomfortable for me. Call me old-fashioned.
NO. SOCIAL. MEDIA. APPS.
Biggest kind of Resistance ever.
13 apps why I still have a smartphone
These apps enrich my life, and the reason why I don’t want to ditch my iPhone:
1. Week Cal
My first bought app on my iPhone 1 and still going strong. A better calendar than the standard one and it ensure I honor my commitments, like I said: muy importante, making it push notification-worthy.
2. Notes
I write everything down: ideas, project announcements, groceries, video, blog concepts and much more. Once a month I plow through and clean up if necessary. I park relevant information for later use or just for documentation.
3. Rain alarm
My favorite way of transport is walking. I walk from my home to the office and back, and I stroll along the magnificent Amsterdam canals next to Lucius HQ several times a day as well.
But I rather not walk through the rain and this app helps me with just that.
4. Sleep cycle
Also one of my first bought apps, ideal to not wake up in terror. This app monitors how deep your sleep is and will only wake you up when it notices you got out of your deep sleep. It also manages the light via Philips Hue connection and will gradually make it lighter.
5. Spotify, Soundcloud & Music
I can’t go without music for a single moment and I use Spotify the most. I use Soundcloud and Music to listen to homemade tracks and DJ mixes.
6. Reminders
Speaks for itself, I make to-do lists and where necessary I add a reminder which is pushed onto my screen, allowing me to honor my commitments and making sure I won’t forget time constrained things. I have 7 different lists like: Private, Business and Today.
7. SIT
Interval timer, which I use for training.
8. Korg Gadget
Even though I prefer hardware (synths, drum machines and midi controllers) to produce music on, this app offers cool features to be able to jam a beat and melody on the road.
9. Feedly and NPO Focus
Feedly bundles my favorite blogs, great to read something in those spare moments. When I have more time to spare I grab an NPO focus article — even though I prefer to read it on my iPad.
10.Podcasts
Like I said, I walk a lot and usually I listen to podcasts to get up to date and to get inspired. My favorites are How I build this and TED radio hour.
11.Photos
Every week I import new photos, throw the old junk out and put everything in maps in photos on my MacBook. I sync those photos via iTunes with my iPhone and I’ll watch an album of memories a few times a week like this.
12.Uber
Enough said, genius platform.
13.Videoland
Watching a series while chilling out in the evening. Favorite at the moment is Kingdom.
14.WhatsApp
You know the drill; see my operating instructions above.
Wrap up
That’s it for now, hopefully you find how I use my phone useful. Smartphones appear unhealthy but stopping altogether seems excessive if you find a proper modus to work with it — and discipline to stick to it. It’s won’t be easy, but when it works the device offers plenty of value making it worth to keep it.
