I’m going to start with a confession. My old iPad Air had dwindled down to a battery life of about 20 minutes, and I finally replaced it.
The new one is great. I love it. It’s also destroyed my morning routine.
This is what I did this morning.
I woke at 7.30am, having stayed up late the night before, following a breaking news story in bed. I grabbed the iPad again as soon as the alarm went off, to see how many people had viewed this site overnight. Then I checked social media stats, the price of Bitcoin, and a few other things that aren’t at all important. Yet they somehow seem so, when you’re comfortable in bed with the world literally at your fingertips.
Then I read the news headlines. Nope, that’s a lie. I read the stories under the headlines, too. I also checked email. And responded to a few.
After an hour or so, I reluctantly got up and finally sat down to start work just before 10am. When I checked my stats all over again, and got distracted by something new in my email in-box.
And this is what I used to do.
I’d get up at 7am, meditate, write my morning pages, maybe go for a brisk walk along the seafront. Over breakfast, I listened to the news on the radio, and maybe got a few chores done. I was at my desk by 9am, when I’d immediately get on with my most important task of the day.
Spot the difference?
What I’ve realised is that really quickly — I’ve only had it a month or so — my new iPad has trained me to spend much more time with it than I need to. Then, addicted to the little dopamine rush of a fresh update or notification, I continue checking all day: on my desktop computer, on my phone, on whatever device is near me.
If you clapped any of my pieces on Medium in the past few weeks, I’d know. Usually within the hour. If my friends posted something on Instagram, I knew that too. My to-do list, however, was getting longer by the day.
It was time to make my mornings analogue.
The life-changing joy of down-grading
Mark Hooper recently wrote about this here. He had his iPhone 7 stolen, while he was asleep on a train. His insurance wouldn’t cover it and he didn’t want the expense of a new one, so he replaced it with a cheap, reconditioned iPhone 4. It made phone calls fine. It gave him a slow connection to the Internet if he really needed it. But it didn’t work with many of his apps, and he could no longer check email on the way to work.
Yet suddenly, his mornings became much more productive.
Gazing out of the train window instead of staring at a screen was oddly calming, and gave him chance to mentally process his priorities for the day.
“I look out of the window,” he wrote. “I take photos. I post them on my 2017 version of Instagram, and tag them #commuting, a few hours later, when I finally get a decent WiFi signal. But better than that: I read books.”
Arriving at the office with no knowledge of what was waiting in his email in-box made it easier to ignore it a little longer, and have a good, solid stretch of work before having his agenda hijacked by other people’s priorities.
He also spent more time with his children, and was less distracted while he did. “If you choose to to reject emojis and 24/7 online access, something unexpected happens,” he concluded. “You feel re-engaged, not less engaged.”
The lesson?
You don’t have to downgrade your phone if you don’t want to.
But if you want to be more productive, I’d urge you leave it outside the bedroom while you sleep, and avoid grabbing it — or any other device — first thing.
Wait until you’re at your desk to start work, rather than processing email on your commute.
Then give yourself at least a clear hour to get something substantial done, before you check your social media, your email, or anything else.
I’m going to take back my mornings, by doing exactly that.
I still love that iPad. But we’re taking it slowly, this time. I need a little space. It’s not going to sleep with me tonight.
But I might just check it in a minute, to see if you’ve liked this feature yet..
What do you think?