Colourful Habits
The first thing that I do every morning as I wake up is to reach for my phone and switch off the alarm. If it were only an alarm, I would switch it off get up and get on with my day, but it isn’t. As much as I love my iPhone, it is a terrible alarm. Having to take it in my hands to switch it off, the battle to get out of bed and start my day is already lost. Depending on what day of the week it is, minutes or even hours will be wasted away, while I scroll through my Facebook feed half asleep. My morning plans usually forgotten, as I read through large amounts of unimportant, and more often than not, useless information.
The same thing happens throughout the rest of the day every time I reach for my phone. When I need to calculate something, I suddenly find myself back on Facebook. A quick glance at my mailbox is all my phone needs to lure me onto Instagram in search of aesthetic satisfaction, and yet more time escapes me. I think my problem with the iPhone is that it does too many things and worst of all - it does them well. If it weren’t a necessity to have a smartphone, I would seriously consider throwing it out of a window.
I don't think you need to do everything perfectly and attempting to do so is only going to end badly. If I had bothered to listen to this great advice several years ago I would have saved myself a lot of stress. Whenever I used to start a project or even a hobby, I’d spend so much time planning, researching, and debating with myself that I never got around to doing anything. Like a kid in a candy store, I was paralysed by choice. Having only recently learned that lesson, my next challenge has been resisting the temptation of the candy store in my pocket, also known as my iPhone.
I now place my phone on top of a book (currently - The Monocle Guide To Good Business). When my alarm rings I reach for my phone and switch it off, but instead of being sucked into the virtual world I grab my book and start my day off by reading. If I lose track of time and spend an hour reading, it’s most likely going to be an hour well spent.
The cure to the problem of choice is a simple one - simplicity. A book on my night stand filled only with useful information, a watch that only tells the time and most importantly - staying away from my phone unless I have no choice but to use it.
I now make sure to surround myself with objects that do only one or two things. My camera records the places and faces I want to remember. My bike takes me anywhere I want to go as long as I push the pedals. My Oli13 sneakers let me walk all summer long in comfort (and style, of course).
