You Don’t Have To Be Instant
It amazes me how much we (as a culture) feel pressured into being instant. Since technology and information are now instant, we feel like we and everyone and everything else just has to be instant.
People used to call you, and the phone on your wall would ring and ring and ring. And they’d hang up and try again later if the call was really important. Not the end of the world.
Now people get offended if you don’t call them back instantly.
People don’t plan anything, have a sudden problem, and it’s somehow instantly your sudden problem.
My Challenge
Just stop. Stop texting back instantly. Turn off your voicemail if you can. Reply to emails once a day for 15 minutes, and then be done with it. Don’t return the call right away. Maybe you shouldn’t return the call at all.
Are you being rude? Maybe. Are you being selfish? Yes.
And that’s the whole point. We need to be more selfish with our lives and our time. Life is finite. You won’t get to live today again. Stop being instant, stop being “productive” and start living deliberately.
Are You Creating Hooks?
As a songwriter, I know something about hooks.
The hook in a song is the catchy part that usually gets stuck in your head. It can be part of the chorus, a part of the verse, or even an instrumental riff. And more times than not, it’s repeated throughout the song.
But now I want to talk about hooks outside of music.
What hooks are you creating in your life and work?
When you produce great content, you’re creating a hook.
When you help others, you’re creating a hook.
When you show love, you’re creating a hook.
The list goes on. But keep in mind, hooks aren’t a one-time thing. They’re usually repeated to catch the listener’s attention, and to ultimately get stuck in the listener’s head.
Will you get stuck in their head?
Who are you trying to hook? How are you going to hook them? What will your listeners, your audience, your clients and family and friends remember you for?
You don’t have a hit without a hook. You don’t have a meaningful life without one either.
My Post-Smartphone Lifestyle
On January 1st, I began a new journey. I quit my day job so I could focus full-time on my music and writing and building something for myself.
Now my employer had been paying for my cell phone bill – a smartphone that is. It was basically a company phone that I could use as my personal phone. It had unlimited everything, and made me feel super cool (in the geekiest of ways).
But when I quit my job, I had to make a choice. Pay $100/mo for a smartphone, or live life without one.
It was then I decided to quit my smartphone addiction.
My Reasoning
People did fine for centuries without smartphones, and without cell phones in general. Instead of instant everything, people actually planned and improvised (a lost art these days). So if they could do it, why couldn’t I?
My Plan
I had this idea that I could use my Toshiba Thrive Android tablet that I purchased on Black Friday to make and receive phone calls. After doing some research, I found out this is actually possible!
Tools I Used
Google Voice - With Google Voice, you get a free Google phone number and then when people call that number, it rings your phone(s). It also offers a lot of neat features like voicemail transcription, call screening, and free text messaging as well.
The only problem with this is that you need a phone for Google Voice to ring, and my Tablet is not a phone! The workaround…
GrooveIP – This Android app sort of acts like a “phone” for Google Voice to ring when someone calls your GV number. It also lets you make calls (sort of like Vonage or any other VOIP service) over your internet connection from your Tablet.
Google Voice Android App - Additionally, I found that having the Google Voice Android App installed on my Tablet was really helpful. It lets you listen to or read your voicemails without having to go to the Google Voice website, and also lets you send and receive text messages from your GV number. So now I can text people as much as I want without having to pay a cent for a text messaging plan!
The Only Glitch
For all of this to work on a WiFi tablet, you have to be on WiFi. When you’re home or at any place that has free WiFi, no problem. But what about when you’re driving in your car? What if your car breaks down and you’re stranded on the side of the road somewhere in redneck land?!?!
Presenting the Pay-As-You-Go, “Dumbphone”
I had planned a trip to Florida to do some recording and visit with my family down there. I almost always prefer to drive rather than fly, just because it’s more fun and my Yaris gets 42 mpg. Meaning, I can make the 1200-mile, 18 hour trip on just three 10-gallon tanks of gas.
But my girlfriend (and the rest of my family) insisted I’d be an idiot to make that kind of trip without some means of emergency communication.
So for $60, I purchased a Samsung Tracfone with 600 minutes and triple minute for life. I added this as one of the phones that Google Voice rings, and now I can answer and place calls on my “dumbphone” if I’m really in a bind.
So Did I Make a Good Decision?
YES! I am so much happier now than I was when I had a smartphone.
Before, I used to feel anchored to my phone. I couldn’t go anywhere without it. If the battery was dying, I would feel like I was dying.
I was constantly being bombarded with Facebook, Twitter, and Email notifications. I was incessantly checking my phone for the latest whatever, even when I was on a date. If I didn’t check it for 5 minutes, I really felt like I was missing something.
But now, I feel so much freedom since I’m not tethered to a phone. Everything that seemed like such a huge deal, in hindsight, never really mattered at all.
My Advice
If you feel addicted to your smartphone, or if you’re just sick of the bombardment, try living without it. Maybe start by going places without it. You might realize it’s not the end of the world if you miss that drunk photo your 3rd-grade classmate posted on her wall.
If you’re brave enough to give it a try, let me know how it goes for you.
Why Wanting More Is Killing Us
We want more stuff.
We want more knowledge.
We want more money.
We want more attention.
We want because it’s newer, bigger, better, faster, smarter, and fancier.
We want more, so we spend more.
We spend more, so we need to earn more.
To earn more, we need to work more.
We work harder and faster and smarter. We spend more time working and less time living. And because we aren’t living, we’re stressed. And since we’re stressed, we need a vacation, a massage, a drink, a release.
All the while, we lose purpose. Our dreams go up on the shelf with the rest of our stuff. Collecting dust with the rest of our stuff. And how do we compensate for less purpose?
More stuff.
But all this work isn’t creating enough money for all the stuff we want. So we borrow, gamble, go into debt. We sacrifice our future to indulge in the present. We start placing blame. We covet. We cheat and lie and steal and kill, all over the conquest for more.
And after a life void of purpose, we lay on our deathbeds. And all our stuff is meaningless. And the only thing we want now?
More time.
