I had a great discussion the other day with a friend at lunch. It was about the incessant need everyone seems to have to answer their phone. No matter what. If it rings, it simply MUST be answered. Doesn’t matter what’s going on. Doesn’t matter what you’re in the middle of. Do any of you see a problem with this?
- Are you in the middle of a conversation with someone? Who cares? Must…answer…the…phone.
- Are you trying to finish an important project, and there’s a rapidly approaching deadline? Who cares? Must…answer…the…phone.
- Are you sleep deprived and need to get to bed, but a troublesome client is calling you at 11PM? Who cares? Must…answer…the…phone.
Seriously, where does this come from? Let it ring! Better yet…if you’re busy, turn the sucker off. Sanity and productivity are there for the taking. If you’re insane right now, it’s because there’s too much on your plate. Enough said. Is there any other reason? No. It’s the only reason. If you’re too busy, you need to do a better job at picking and choosing.
And the most powerful things that wreck our day are not the big projects that we take on. It’s the little ones. It’s the little “this will take just a second” phone calls, emails, IM’s and such.
What if you only took calls that you were expecting? Can you imagine how much more focused you would be? What if you simply returned all calls at a scheduled time each day? Would it be more productive?
Is your day getting wrecked by tiny little interruptions? Do you realize you have a choice in the matter?
I agree. It’s the small stuff that kills the day. The wise people of a generation ago had secretaries for this very reason.
Nice
yes secretaries are called VA’s now. I highly recommend! Thinking YOU have to be the one to handle every single detail is something that works at first, because you have time to handle everything, but soon enough…trust me…you’re gonna need help!
Twitter: drewhawkins
I agree. The act of not answering your phone is a lost art. That’s what voicemail is for. If it’s really important, they’ll leave a message. Or call back two seconds later….
haha. right on Drew. Yeah, sometimes they’ll call and call. My voice mail is as follows “hey thanks for calling; i return calls every afternoon. please leave a message.” I’ve found if you’re consistent though, and people know you WILL call them back at a certain time, it works well.
Amen! I’ve done really well with phone calls…but I’m still struggling with gaining control over email and not allowing myself to get sucked in. That’s why I have been spending time yesterday and day unsubscribing from numerous email lists. It’s kinda like when I was losing weight….keep the cookies out of the house and won’t eat too many cookies. LOL!
Great point Shae. Sitting in front of your inbox demands that you micromange things and spend time doing stuff that isn’t necessarily an effective use of your time. If you sit down with a specific action that needs to be done, complete it, then CLOSE THE BROWSER, it’s a very good thing. The minute you start clicking around aimlessly, that’s when you end up on YouTube watching cat videos. I’ve done it!
I’ve almost stopped using my phone altogether. It’s so peaceful when it is off. To be honest, people have stopped calling me because I either don’t answer or don’t have my phone on. It’s awesome!
Right on Henri. Yeah, I’ve actually gone from over a hundred calls a day down to just a dozen or so. It’s way cool. It’s in large part due to changes in how I do business. I also get a LOT more email now, but I find email a lot more manageable. It’s all about being in control. I WANT a big business and to work with a lot of people, but I want to be in control of it. That’s the thing
I’m actually quite the opposite – if I’m out somewhere with someone, in conversation or whatever I’ll almost always screen the call. I almost always have my phone on silent too, especially when I’m out or doing something that requires my complete focus.
I can always call them back later – imagine that! What bothers me though is people don’t leave a message when they call (if I screen it or let it ring out) but I guess their call isn’t all that important then is it?
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I have had clients not leave messages, and their philosophy is that if I’m not at their beckoned call then I obviously don’t appreciate them, and they prefer to work with someone who is available 24/7. Honestly, I’m cool with that. I have a list of people they can call. It’s called Google! Seriously, providing a service to people can easily become a 24/7 job, even when you have plenty of help. At some point you have to make an executive decision on whether you want to deal with those clients who drain your energy. some clients are going to be disappointed no matter what you do, ya know?
When I saw the title of this post I had to come in and check it out C.
It wasn’t too long ago when I was making this very mistake. I was basically a glorified receptionist. Not to mention my family was starting to resent my Blackberry.
Then I finally read the Four Hour Work Week, and now I’m doing everything I can to stay away from the phone and email
Very cool man. Yeah, the 4 hour work week is a powerful book. Unfortunately a lot of people say it’s unrealistic. It’s not. If you think it doesn’t apply to you, you need to read it again! I’ve been meaning to read the Zero Hour Work Week at http://www.illuminatedmind.net/. Have you read it? It looks great. And that blog is rockin.