No Excuses Leadership

Five Swipes Over

If you saw my phone five years ago, you'd have found over 200 apps that filled ten screens on my iPhone. Today, you'll find a home screen with one icon that says "settings". That's right, my home screen is virtually blank. Swipe over one screen and you'll see my email, calendar, and map app. Swipe a third time and you'll see three apps related to organization. A fourth swipe will get you two apps that I use for reading books. Finally, on the fifth swipe, you'll see several dozen apps that fit into a category I call "time suckers." Clearly, there is a method to this madness and it all has to do with a deep desire to simplify my life.

Several years ago I found myself spending hours a day on social media, gaming, and news apps that added little to no value to my life. I hated the way the gaming apps took away time I could have used to be more productive. And I despised the way the news and social media apps inundated me with the negativity going on in the world. My solution was to take three important steps:

TAKE ACTION

1st: Delete apps that were completely useless. They might be apps I downloaded for one use, or something that I hadn't used in many months.

2nd: Find the important apps I use on a daily basis and elevate them accordingly on the first few screens of my phone. These are apps for email, music, maps, calendar, etc.

3rd: Whatever is left over, place them five swipes over.

My reason for all of this is simple: When you have to swipe your screen five times to get to an app, it sends a signal to your brain and causes you to ask yourself "How valuable is my time?" and "Is using my phone this way going to add or take away value from what's most important." 

BE BOLD

Are you using your phone as a tool to make your life easier and more productive or has it become a distraction that hinders your pursuit of success?