“The effectiveness of work increases according to geometric progression if there are no interruptions.”
–Andre Maurois
At their best, email and smartphones are conveniences that help us stay connected and get more done. At their worst, they become our slave masters.
How can we do our best work – art – when we are constantly reacting to other people’s issues? Focus is one of the keys to doing quality work that matters.
It’s time to break the chains that we have allowed our inboxes, ringers and text messages to put on us. It’s time to reclaim our focus, our time, and our sanity.
We have a special rule on the smart phone at the Knapp house, especially at dinner time. Here it is:
“The phone is for our convenience, not for the caller’s.”
We feel the same way about emails, text messages and even doorbells. If we don’t want to answer any of those, we don’t have to.
Does that sound rude?