I was halfway to my car appointment when I realized that I left my smartphone at home. If I turned around to get it, I would have surely been late, so I pushed forward.
Luckily, I brought my messenger bag containing books and writing materials. In that 75 minutes, I managed to read through one chapter of a Peter Block's "Flawless Consulting" and write out four blog posts.
It is truly amazing how much we can accomplish without any distractions. I think it's safe to say that my smartphone is as much of a distraction as it is a work tool.
Although I have turned off some of the notifications that are sent to my phone, I still race to my phone when it chirps, beeps or blinks. For the time that I went to my car appointment and back, life was pretty quiet. And it was good.