I can promise you it's not sleeping...

Today is Sunday, just so you have some context on what I’m about to tell you. On Friday I had a long day working with a client and coincidentally getting to see my mum. My plan was to write a blog about how my mother and I are very similar in the way we organise and arrange things- I had a photo of her cupboard at work and everything; I’m confident you would have enjoyed reading it.

However, after a long day I accidently dropped my phone in some water… and when I say some water I mean the toilet. If you know me, you’ll know how much of a disaster this is for me. I chose not to panic though, I popped the saturated item in a box full of rice and went to bed petrified but hopeful, Long story and some epic adult tantrums short, my phone is dead. And when I say dead I mean like John Cleese banging a parrot on the counter dead.

Now, I often see posts on Facebook about how people have been somewhere and had no mobile reception or internet or how they’ve consciously chosen to go tech free for a while and I’ve looked at those posts and envied them- it sounds peaceful, it sounds brave and I always wanted to be that sort of person.

It turns out that I am categorically not that sort of person. 10 years ago I remembered whole 11 digit mobile phone numbers, dozens of them, it turns out that today I can’t even remember my mother’s home phone number. Then there’s photos, like the nice one I had lined up for the blog I didn’t write. And the notes- the poems, thoughts, lists and passwords. My apps, honestly, you don’t realise how much you use the apps. And Google… precious google which answers all my questions, tells me what time the swimming pool is open and generally allows me to do things.

I was out last night, I couldn’t even take a selfie.  I couldn’t check in. I couldn’t keep an eye on emails and texts and notifications… this was difficult for me, I can’t begin to describe how difficult. So, it turns out that I can’t be tech free and happy about it. Which is kind of disappointing.

That said, it’s Sunday as I said earlier and it’s been 48 hours since the incident and I’ve really struggled but I’ve had the most productive day ever. Once I’d worked out how to use Spotify on my laptop and had messaged all my clients to warn them I had no phone I was free to empty and clean drawers, sort my wardrobe, deep clean the bathroom and generally get loads of things sorted because I wasn’t constantly checking and replying and being distracted by my phone…

One of my clients has offered me a handset to use temporarily whilst I sort mine out. I will be picking that up asap tomorrow, I literally don’t want to cope another day without my phone and I know how sad that makes me sound. However, I have learnt how much of attention and time the phone takes and that needs to change so I’m going to start weaning myself off during periods of productivity. Think of it like a type of Pomodoro – short bursts of intense and focussed activity with no outside interference. It is actually my favourite form of time management when I have a lot on so there’s no reason why I can’t build this extra layer of focus in.

I’ll probably start on Tuesday though, because tomorrow I’ll be hugging my borrowed handset, taking selfies and announcing to the world that I’m contactable. Time enough to be productive and focussed the rest of the week!