Why I’m more important than you…
Well actually I’m not, nor are you more important than me, so why then do we interrupt each other mid conversation or in meetings to look at our phones?
Over time I’ve grown increasingly aware of this. Typically when team charters have excluded phones on tables in meetings, the team has generally been happier, and it actually leads to quicker meetings with more engagement.
That being said I’ve felt that in more recent times it’s become much more common for people to interrupt conversations mid sentence to address something on their phone. I’m not blaming this on “everyone else” but also on myself and since mid 2016 have made an effort to reduce phone usage mid meeting and mid conversation and as it’s the start of the new year, have made it a resolution to really live this by example.
What I’ve noticed has happened:
- I’m more engaged in the conversation / meeting.
- I don’t forget about things as I don’t “micro focus” mid sentence, I now take the time to address emails, hipchat messages, SMS.
- My wife is happier ( yes I try to follow this in my personal life aswell ).
- I found I actually don’t need to attend to “most” things as immediately as is first thought, and those things which are needed, someone always comes to find me.
What has it cost me, what have I gained:
- Cost? Well nothing really, I almost feel like I have more free time as it seams less intense/busy.
- Occasionally if a meeting runs close to a lunch people may say hey I wasn’t sure if you were coming or not as I didn’t immediately reply.
- A little bit of time to address what I “missed”, although I feel like I address things properly and provide my full attention in my response.
Ultimately, people’s time is valuable. I appreciate it when I have someones full attention, and I really notice when I don’t. I’ll continue to work on this through 2017 and I’ll hope you’ll consider it aswell.
So should we consider our time to be more important than others?
