What I learnt today #1

Monday 08 October 2012

Regular Monday morning.

My phone alarm goes off at 6:00am. By reflex I pick it up, and precisely slide my thumb across the arrow thingies to silence it. My eyes are still closed. Just like marine stripping down and re-assembling an AK-47 blindfolded, this takes years of practice.

Oh sweet snooze. How you caress me.......

A few minutes^* later I am up and at it, ready to take on the world!

*few meaning approximately 40

A few activities in the hygienic realm, followed by completing the ‘pants + shirt = dressed’ equation and I’m downstairs.

Bounce starter and we’re off.

Half way through my commute to the office, I realise a part of me is missing, i.e. I’ve left my phone at home. “I’ve come too far to turn around” I thought.

I got to the office, to realise that we have no internet access due to problems with our ISP.

Holy crap, the perfect storm. I am completely alone on a digital deserted island.  

Being on this isolated atoll taught me the following:

• Having access to almost unlimited technical information is only a distraction. It is a potential, not an actual necessity. Just like the monster 4x4 people drive on perfectly paved roads on their way to the grocery. Yes you have the potential to cross mud bogs and boulders, but thankfully Junior Sammy took care of all that for you. So, instead of driving to the middle of Biche to drop off food for orphans, you go Superpharm in your 5000lb TCX Ford Ranger. Similarly, instead of uncovering the operational intricacies of a wye-wye connected step-down transformer in your design, you feel compelled to watch a youtube review of Nexus 7 tablet that you’re not going to buy anyway.  

• My phone is a distraction. I do not own a RIM device, but I do have a phone capable of feeding me information from the WWW as well as instant messages. I used to pride myself in not being one of ‘those people’ who constantly checks their phone. The only way my phone makes a sound is for a phone call or an alarm. I thought it shifted the balance of power from my phone to me: No Phone, I will check YOU when I’m ready. Don’t chime at me you piece of plastic!! However, like the seductive baddis (smoking-hot but bad-for-you female for my non-T&T readers) that you crossed paths with years ago, it beckons to you in the same language your bed uses when you’re trying to study or do work. I constantly found l myself patting my pockets for my mobile. I am not in charge of my phone as I previously thought. Wow.

This morning, I did more work than I remember doing in quite a long time. My productivity easily doubled. This doesn’t mean that I do nothing usually, just that I stepped out of a Toyota Corolla and was behind the wheel of a Bugatti Veyron.

No emails to answer, no tweets from @BBCWorld or @rickygervais to scroll through, no IMs to catch up on. I was flying through tasks. I felt like a kung-fu master that ended up surrounded by goons and I was dealer of utter and complete destruction as they rushed toward me one by one.

We must be mindful of our distractions to achieve the Zen like state of attentiveness.

I learnt more about my distractions, what are yours?

Yes, I went home for my phone at lunchtime.