I started the no more phones experiment and stopped using phones some weeks ago, at a time when I was using 4 sim cards in 3 phones. The experiment/journey started out very relaxing and I absolutely enjoyed every minute of not having to communicate full-time with a phone. And then it got tough, somewhat. The following points summarize the biggest updates and reasons why it got tough.
1. There were contacts who I previously communicated directly with via phone that simply will not communicate via email or third parties. Even for the most minute requests such as “we need your bio and photograph for our event website.” They simply had to speak directly to me and no one else. And I had to answer those calls to get things moving. This is not a befitting reason to stop the experiment; I just need to delegate smarter or give people more time to get used to no-more-phones.
2. “I don’t have a phone” or “I don’t use a phone” was met with unexpected, bizarre responses. “It’s not possible” “You must have a phone” “How can anyone not use a phone”. This particular point makes me not want to use phones at all. For phones to become a “must” makes me want to rebel against them even more.
3. My sweetest husband calling every other person’s phone. I end up answering his calls through the drivers’ phones, nannies’ phones, employees’ phones, Sister’s phone, anyone he can call that would be around me at that point in time that he needed to talk to me. This felt unfair from my part considering that he would be able to reach me directly if i’d just keep one sim card on. Although most of the reasons he needed to reach me really could wait till I got back home but hey..
4. This point is more of a confession. My phones are now on for at least 2 hours daily for the past 3 days. Work just somehow got a lot more hectic without phones. I HAVE to make calls if I want revenue to keep flowing from certain opportunities. I have to review prior communications to close certain deals. I have to do so many other things that depend on phones. Ugh 🙂
Not at all done with the experiment or close to being discouraged; the experiment continues. I’m just re-strategizing to gradually not use phones again. Right now, I am very slightly back to using phones, very minimally, but soon, not at all. I will continue to “not use phones” – 2 hours daily is very menial for phone usage and I plan to gradually go from 2+ hours to 1+ to 0. I succeeded 2 full weeks without using my phones. Can you go for 48 hours? All future updates on no-more-phones experiment will be shared only via Olatorera.com.
