Why I Never Do Unscheduled Phone Calls

Unscheduled, random phone calls serve nobody

Photo by Hannah Wei on Unsplash

I don’t do unscheduled phone calls. If you call me randomly, I probably won’t answer. The main exceptions to this rule include my wife, my business partner, and my kids’ school. And they know that aside from an emergency, we can usually wait.

Since unscheduled phone calls do more harm than good, I have sworn them off.

Instead, I schedule all phone calls. Scheduling all phone calls has helped me to protect my time and get more quality work done. It has also helped me to serve my clients better.

We have the technology to make all of this easy (see below). We should use this technology to make the phone a more productive and enjoyable part of our lives, instead of an ever-present distraction.

Doing good work means protecting my time

Many scholars have written and discussed the importance of “flow.” Doing good work requires being in a state of flow — where your mind and attention have become entirely devoted to the task at hand.

Interruptions — such as unscheduled phone calls — break the flow. Broken flow leads to lower-quality work.