A Mnew Mnemonic: Phone on Four for Four

If you ask some people, they’ll say I’m forgetful. It’s not true. My problem is, when people are talking to me, sometimes I’m not listening intently. That’s a bad habit and I’m working on it. When I want to remember things and work at it (ie pay attention), I remember stuff. That’s the key …working at it.

To remember names, I need to employ all the tricks like immediately saying the name back to the person, using that name three times as quickly as possible, and creating some sorta feature association …like Bald Bill or Smiling Steve. Or assign the person to a room somewhere I’m familiar with …like putting a Pete with all the other Pete’s I know in “the pantry” or if I meet a Mike, put Mike with the other Mikes in the “mail room.”

But the memory technique I’m most proud of is my use of mnemonics. It’s something I invented and combines Atomic Habits, Getting Things Done, and more.  I have a bunch of them and I’m always inventing new mnemonics to help me always remember what I want to remember and do.

Phone on the Fours

There’s no way to invent this one without someone I love thinking I’m judging them, but I think it applies to all of society. People spend too much time on their phones. Even the people who do spend tons of time on their phone probably agree, but we feel powerless. Everything’s on our phones. Everyone we know is trying to reach us on our phones. Texts. Social media. The weather. I don’t want to be one of those people always looking at my phone. So I’m going to try only looking at my phone when the big hand (of my watch or a wall clock) is pointing at the four. Hence, “Phone at the 4 for 4”.  Which is 20-minutes after the hour. When the “big hand is on the four”, I will grab my phone and look at my text messages.  Yes, a little more often I’ll look but only briefly just in case something really, really important is happening. I have a list of super important people and loved ones I’ll respond to immediately if something is urgent, but if it’s not my wife, one of my three children, or a short list of other people (ie my boss or a client during work hours about a work-related thing), those texts can wait until the big hand is on the four.

What’s happened in the initial 3-week trial of this method is even the other random texts, like texts from college buddies about our woeful football team or my brother asking me if I listened to a Podcast or watched a show …I’ve determined those can wait, too.

I never logged how much time I would spend looking at my phone, but I know it was too much. I’ve watched people …co-workers, friends, and family members and just sorta paid attention to how long they spend “quickly checking their phone” and I’ve observed it’s about an average of 4-minutes.  That’s an actual average …sometimes people “quick check their phone” for up to 15-minutes.

This happens at work. At dinner. Driving.

And I’m nowhere near perfect or pretend that I am. I probably spend too much time listening to Podcasts and watching YouTube videos, but I’m working to make those appointment moments and not time-sucks.

Instead, at work, I get more done. At home in the evening or on weekends, I feel like my me-time is more about me. I read. I knock out a chore or a to-do. And I just spend alot less time on my phone.

Try it. You’ll see. When you first start doing it you’ll actually feel bored and a little confused. I found myself asking, at first, what the heck do I do if I’m not looking at my phone? Turns out, quite a bit.

Spending 4-minutes (yes, I time myself) on my phone every hour when the big hand is on the four …still means I’m spending 48-64 minutes on my phone during waking hours. Think about that. Does an hour a day spent mindlessly and randomly looking at our phones seem like too much? I think it sounds about right, and yet still too much if you think about what all of human history was like before 2005(ish).

Which brings me to one more thing I’m going to think about some more …why are we all cool with phones just …there? Why are they …always …there?  I’m kicking this around …imagine if I was into Soduku or crossword puzzles …or I was really, really into a book I’m reading. What would you think if I had that book sitting on the table at dinner or in front of me during a business meeting? And just randomly picked up that book (or crossword puzzle) and worked on it for “3 quick minutes” right during dinner or at that business meeting? You’d definitely talk about me behind my back . . . “did you see what Don did at dinner…  he just grabbed a novel out of his pocket and started reading …like we weren’t even there at the table …isn’t that weird?”  Or … “right when the boss was talking about a new initiative, Don started doing a crossword puzzle …he’s gonna get fired.”

It would be weird …and yet …we all do it all the time with our phones.

Two points …first, I’m going to work on less phone and screen time. Second, I’m using a mnemonic to make it stick.  Phone on the Four for Four.