Confessions of a Phone Addict

This is a more personal post than we usually publish here at Sales Evolution. But I'm probably not alone in my admission that...

My name is Jeb Brooks and I’m a phone-aholic.

This morning, I checked my phone five times. Before leaving my house. I checked it again on the way to my car.

I was looking for anything that required my immediate attention. Maybe an email, a missed call, an urgent tweet? Anything.

You and I both know there won't be anything like that between 5:30 and 6:00 in the morning. But I'm still driven to check. Almost obsessively.

My first mistake is using my phone as an alarm clock. It gives me an excuse to check my email even before I’m out of bed .

My addiction is a problem because it’s unhealthy. It's unhealthy because it increases my stress. I rarely relax. And that’s unnecessary. Admittedly, there’s a sliver of a chance that a client will contact between the time I shut off my alarm clock and finish brushing my teeth. But - just in case - I can't stop thinking I need to respond.

I check it when I'm waiting in line. I check it while I'm eating lunch. I check it while I'm at a stoplight. In short, if I'm not (1) actively working or (2) physically with another person, I'm probably checking my phone. With access to the web on airplanes, I'm even accessible at 30,000 feet.

We've conditioned ourselves (and, more importantly, our clients) to expect immediate responses. That means we can't take the chance to "unplug." What if we unplug at the wrong time?!

But we should unplug. I should.

When the Blackberry first came on the scene, many complained that it prevented them from "getting away." I took the opposite stance, saying that it freed us from the confines of our desks. We could be in Bermuda, for example, and respond just as if we were in the office. I was wrong.

Don't misunderstand me, I'm not advocating disconnecting from our clients. But we should take breaks.

What's the worst thing that will happen if I respond to that email at 8:00 the next morning instead of 11:00 the night before?

@JebBrooks