Don't use your phone for 1 hour in the morning and 1 hour at night. Compliments of my good buddy 'Cheese' who gave me the idea. I foresee a lot of his ideas popping up here more often as well, he's got some good ones. With the exception of turning off your alarm or setting it, you can not use your phone for the first hour after you wake up. This will be a good week to stick to your established morning routine we made in week 1. Stay positive and motivated and have your first task planned out and ready for you to accomplish. Before bed will be the easy one. It's a great opportunity to read a little extra at night. No computers or TV either during this time. Calm yourself with some yoga, meditation, reading or scribing in a paper journal. Use this time to take a break from your media and social connections and relax within your own mind and body. This will be a great week to relax and cripple the bond between you and your phone. I want to see if we are completely dependent upon them and what we will do when you can not have them. It is much like a backcountry camping trip. After those first hours or days of no connectivity, you fall in love with it. Let's hope the same happens here, just with a little more will power. Good luck and really try to enjoy this one. This is not supposed to be a punishment. This is supposed to be an example where when you subtract something from your life, you're actually gaining something larger.
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REFLECTION: Monday morning I completely forgot. I was terrible and crushed Instagram for about an hour. Literally the exact opposite of what we were doing this week. I've lost already. After that however, I did the challenge throughout the week successfully. I touched my phone once to answer my girlfriend but then quickly told her goodbye.
The week actually had a different effect than I originally expected. I actually felt less productive. Which is counterintuitive of what we were trying to accomplish. It was weird to figure out I actually use my phone in the morning for some beneficial results. One step in my morning routine is to do a mini New York Times Crossword puzzle on my phone. It gets my brain going and is a perfect thing to accomplish while I sip my morning tea. Additionally, I check the weather for the day, check how the crypto markets did throughout the night, look at my to-do list for the day then head out the door and throw on a podcast for the car ride to work. This routine, is only because I'm back in Virginia and have a semi routine; at least for most mornings. But I didn't realize how much the phone ran my morning. At night it wasn't at difficult. The difficult part was timing when I would fall asleep. I tried to stop the phone and computer usage as soon as I could. I started to wind down and prepare for bed. Sometimes I wouldn't use it for the last two hours, others maybe 30 mins because I would fall asleep while reading my current Ghangis Khan read. I actually felt I could have accomplished more here as well, but with my computer. I sometimes brain dump into my "mind dump" folder or do research on my next adventure or venture. Overall I think it was a good cleanse to get off the tech for a bit, but I didn't actually like this one. I liked the idea more than the challenge. How did you guys feel about it? Are some the same? Some different. I would love to hear.