I love my phone (which happens to be an iPhone because I think the stuff Apple makes is phenomenal, thanks to the brilliance of Steve Jobs – may he rest in peace) because it enables me to cut the tether from my laptop and go do fun things, while staying connected. I took the below pic while mountain biking on a day I was doing Schedulefly support. In fact I answered a support call while I was stopped at that sign. One minute later and the customer had what she needed from me, and I was rolling into that “drop off”…

And here’s a screen shot I captured while I was laying in bed one night with my daughter. I like to lay with her for a while as she’s going to sleep each night, and I often pull out my phone and start reading articles or blogs while she’s nodding off with her head on my chest. On this night she asked to type her grandmother, Mary Beth, a note on my email. It’s the first email she’s ever typed anything…

But lately I had begun to also despise my phone, because it’s always there. It’s there when I am mountain biking. And snow skiing. And when I am putting my daughter to bed. Really? Sure, she got to type that sweet email, but I’m positive she would have done something else very sweet if that phone wasn’t dangling out of my pocket. It’s pathetic. And I know it. In fact, recently I’ve been feeling like a modern-day, suburban Gollum, being ruled by “my precious” and not wanting to let it escape my grasp…

We of course love enabling restaurant employees to receive their work schedules on their phones. And communicate with their teammates. And trade shifts. And stay connected with what’s happening at work. And so on. But if you’ve got an all-or-nothing personality like me, it can be tough to find the discipline to use your phone the right way, and not let it consume you.

And last weekend my head was about to explode from my phone. Calls. Texts. Emails. Ball game scores. And on and on. It was too much – I needed a break. I put my phone in a drawer on Friday afternoon, and I didn’t look at it until Sunday night. I still checked email once each day, but I did it the “old fashioned” way: I dusted off our desktop Mac.

I’ll admit, it was (sadly) kind of hard at first. I reached for it a few times only to find my pocket empty. But by Saturday late morning I was a new man. I was more relaxed. More focused on what was happening around me, rather than what was happening in my pocket. Making eye contact with people talking to me. Listening better. Breathing slower. At ease.

I’m writing this on Friday morning, so it’s been one week. My phone is with me, but being used only out of necessity. Not out of habit. I hope I can continue the discipline…

Wil