The more I see of myself the more I change.The more I see of the world the more I long for change.

I try and give some time to thinking through significant things throughout my day so that I don’t go through a week being as dull as ditch water. And for the most part I have inklings of one or two thought provoking things that I bat around in my head. For the last several months I have been sunk in things like writing, creativity, social media, distractions and creating good, healthy habits. I’m terribly good at developing unhelpful habits that linger around for far too long and cause havoc so I am confessing one and trying to implement good habits in this area.

For a while now I have become part of the “blackberry revolution” taking place mostly in South Africa and a few other key places, with the exception of American because they frown upon anything that does not sport an Apple icon. Since having a blackberry however I have noticed how much of a distraction it can be at work or in company. I have seen people, and I am just as guilty of this, who will answer a BBM, Email, Twitter or Facebook message while you have coffee with them or are in the middle of a conversation or spending time together. It is very disconcerting and I hate it being done to me. I like giving my full attention to something or someone when I am with them and my blackberry just distracts me from that very thing; being able to take a genuine interest in whoever I am with or whatever I am doing. In essence I am robbing that person of their time and indirectly saying that they are not as important as the messages or emails coming through on my phone that I must answer right away. Not only is it rude but it says a lot about what I think of myself, what I think about others and what I think is important. I have almost lost the ability to distinguish between what is important and what is urgent.

I have done some reading and deliberating about what I can do to prevent this bad habit from running amok in my life. Some reading and opinions from other bloggers have helped me decide that when it comes to spending time with someone, anyone that I have committed that time to, then I need to be present. So whether that means my phone needs to be on silent or off, if that little red flashing light is too much of a temptation to pick it up, I suppose the same goes when working or doing something important. Chances are I’ll get more done and be more productive when I’m not answering messages every 20 minutes or updating status’.

So I have decided along with the above mentioned; though work-wise it is impossible to have my phone off for the full 8 hours, it would be helpful to have it off every morning for the first few hours of the day so that I can get my mind focused on what needs to be done and so that I can set the tone for the rest of the day. And once I’ve attended to the work that needs to be done that day then I can switch it on and spend a few minutes replying to any messages that have come through or I need to reply to. (Donald Miller – Want to be productive? Turn off your phone)

Bad habits die hard with me but I’m hoping that the changes will bear fruit and encourage me to keep going at it for the sake of creativity, relationships and sanity I suppose.