Like many of you, I am an avid reader / follower of the digital revolution as interpreted by time-management gurus like Tim Ferriss, David Allen, Merlin Mann, etc. A quick glance at my Google Reader page confirms that a good 80% of my online time is spent reading about…how to manage my time. Little did I know that all of this research was preparing me to manage an imminent crisis — the loss of my cellphone.
When my cellphone (literally) bit the dust last week, I made the decision to switch carriers and move over to the iPhone. The logisticsEl http://www.alojarpoker.es/mejor-en-linea-reglas-del-poker-texas-apostar-paginas.html sabe que a largo plazo puede ganar, aun cuando las posibilidades esten en su contra. involved in this, however, made it clear that I would be cellphone-less for the better part of a week. What follows is a brief overview of how I handled the situation and, I believe, came out better on the other side.
Phase One: Denial
“Disaster!” was the first thought to cross my mind…as a stay at home web worker with a strong 1:1 consulting practice, I have traditionally relied heavily on my smart phone to keep me connected with my clients and the web in general. As the week progressed, however, I was able to develop the proper work-arounds that kept me in touch. Not only that, these “work-arounds” actually began to make my life a great deal easier!
Phase Two: Adaptation
My very first thought (after the denial thing) was to fire up 4HWW, 43Folders, etc., and finally take these gurus up on their advice. Nothing like a tragedy to force me to change. The loss of my cell phone meant I needed to figure out how to manage communications quickly; instead of starting from scratch I decided to use the gurus to make sure I was as effective as possible.
So what did I actually do to make the transition? Here’s the breakdown of the technology…
* Full on use of Skype; including voicemail to facilitate
* Visual voicemail (from the missing cell phone) thanks to PhoneTag (formerly Simulscribe), it dumps transcribed voicemails into my inbox for me to read.
* Removed static online signatures and replaced with Twitter badge to keep folks up-to-date on my public status.
* Acuity to manage client self-service booking of call-times based on my schedule (save for emergencies).
From A Time Management Perspective
By leveraging the aforementioned technologies to manage communication, I was able to drive the majority of work elements of my day into specific situations; primarily my computer.
* By using Skype, I am able to limit call times to when I am on my computer. Since this is really the only time I want other people to think I am “working” anyway, the transition has been very easy.
* With everything in my inbox now, from emails to voicemails to appointments, I only have one place to really look to manage everything. Sure, I still need to move the stuff out of my inbox into my calendar, etc, but even just the act of starting from one simple place every time made life easier.
* By putting my ID on Skype and using Twitter, my web-savvy clients could see what I was up to and when they could/couldn’t reach me. The result was more targeted, manageable conversations.
Other Cool Stuff that Happened
* Improved useage of Backpack for team projects (especially the new super-cool Journal feature), as no cell phone meant limited phone calls and all that how you doin’/how YU doin’ chatter.
* Meeting Ingrid from Holland who asked for my help using a payphone @ Cleveland Airport to call home; I couldn’t figure out the phone either, but we had her chatting away on Skype with her family in under a minute. Amazing.
Phase Three: Acceleration
By leveraging technology to make the transition to being cell-phoneless, I have created the conditions for being more productive than I have been for quite some time. In fact, I am getting so much work done that it’s been a real pain to remember to do all the little tasks (that still need doing). Specifically:
* I have struggled mightily with important personal communication. Those “fun” conversations/text message sessions aren’t happening; while that’s helped me to be more prodcutive I am aware of the fact that it’s made me seem less accessible to folks.
* Lack of support in the event of an emergency. As fate would have it, I was in a car accident several days after losing my phone. Thankfully a good samaritan let me use his phone to call my wife, but she had no way of reaching me directly. This is NOT a good feeling.
Turning Challenge into Opportunity
Until last week, I was more of a lurker than a participant; reading Tim’s advice (and all the great comments) from afar. By looking at a potential disastrous situation as an opportunity, I have been able to up my productivity and improve overall quality of life.
In fact, now that I have my iPhone, I am not sure how many folks I want to tell that it’s back “on”. 
See you all online,
P
Welcome to my corner of the Web. 