This Is My Phone Policy

Yes, I have a phone policy.

When I went to school, my his­tory teach­er once caught me check­ing my phone dur­ing class. He asked me what all slaves through­out his­tory had in common.

“That someone owned them,” I sug­ges­ted.
“That they were always avail­able,” he said.

Here we go:

My Phone Policy

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My Phone Policy

I’ve com­piled a per­son­al phone policy to keep my incom­ing calls in check (and avoid slavery). 

Don’t Answer the Phone When:

I’m not going to answer my phone when:

• I’m with friends and family.
• I’m in traffic.
• I’m think­ing about import­ant things.
• I’m in a meeting.
• I’m writ­ing or creating.
• I’m sleep­ing (or hav­ing sex).
• I’m at the gym.
• I’m in the bathroom. 
• I’m doing house­work (laun­dry, cook­ing, clean­ing etc.)
• I’m med­it­at­ing or image stream­ing.
• I’m listen­ing to music (or dancing).
• I’m eat­ing.
• I’m watch­ing Twin Peaks.
• I’m watch­ing Star Wars.
• I’m gro­cery shopping.
• I’m in nature with my cam­era.
• I’m drop­ping off or pick­ing up my son at kindergarten.
• I don’t feel like talk­ing on the phone.

Answer the Phone When:

I will answer the phone when:

• I’m close to my phone when it rings; none of the above scen­ari­os applies, and the phone num­ber belongs to someone I genu­inely feel like talk­ing to.
• I’m get­ting a call from my son’s kindergarten.
• I’m get­ting a call from wifey.
• I’m get­ting a sched­uled call.

Learn more: My Phone Policy

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The Magic of Text Messages

Luckily, my boss says being avail­able for unsched­uled phone calls is not part of my job descrip­tion. ¹My boss? Hmm, that would be me.

Is there a poten­tial crisis?
Send me a text message:

“Jerry. Code red. Can you make your­self avail­able for a quick call?”

Yes. If you’re a cli­ent and text me like that, I’ll be in DEFCON 1!

Still, I’ve got­ten the occa­sion­al remark due to my phone policy:

“Jerry. I called you but did­n’t answer, so I took my busi­ness elsewhere.”

Well, there’s no issue here.

Because we shouldn’t have a pro­fes­sion­al rela­tion­ship if you think my expert­ise is so eas­ily replaced. It’s a prob­lem that sorts itself out, one could say.

PR Resource: Productivity

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Jerry’s Life Design Ideas

In addi­tion to being a PR pro­fes­sion­al, I’m inter­ested in find­ing ways to live a bet­ter life — and I some­times stumble upon ideas worth writ­ing down when think­ing about such things.

• Image Streaming — Unleash Your Inner Genius
• The Acceleration Theory
• Slow is Smooth, Smooth is Fast
• The Epic Year Approach
• The Every Day Rule
• Mental Models: Think Better
• My Phone Policy

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