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Posted February 24, 2009 by Linda Edgecombe

Disconnect to Re-Engage – And Just Notice What You Notice

Linda Edgecombe, CSP Award Winning Speaker, Best Selling Author and Just plain fun to be around.

OK, Business People of the world, put down your cell phones, Blackberries, PDA’s, Pocket PC’s…Whatever! And FOCUS.  This may sound amusing but I am dead serious here. Oh, and I don’t mean turn them to vibrate, stun or whichever setting you normally do to appear courteous.  I want you to shut them OFF.  Off means OFF!

But wait, there’s more: I want you to keep them OFF, once again this year, for one full day.  Yes indeed I formally declare January 15th, 2010 as the 2nd Annual “National Disconnect to Re-Engage Day”   – Are you addicted to your communication devices?

In light of the January 1st changes to Several Provincial and State Legislation around the use of cell phones and PDA Devices, while driving, it has prompted me to make my plea to all North Americans to ….just turn off these little communications devices all together.

Before you look at the effects of this obsessive behaviour we all continue to condone, we need to ask ourselves why do we keep it up, and what’s the payoff?   Have we whittled down our ability to connect face to face with people and replaced the skill of conversation with our current version of Virtual Relationships?

How to tell if you need this challenge:

  1. If you have checked for messages in the past 10 minutes, you need to detox.
  2. If you have ever scrolled emails over the dinner table, you need to detox.
  3. Have you checked messages and emails while on vacation, right after making love to your partner, perhaps while the kids opened their Christmas or birthday gifts, you need to detox.
  4. During your weekly visit to Church? The Synagogue, Mosque or your inlaws???
  5. OK, simply if you own one, you need to detox.

Now I know, using these electronics is safe, you can think before you type and we all feel very self-important; You know that “I’m needed” feeling you get when your little mini personal excitement device vibrates on your hip. I can feel the wall of reasons that are coming up why YOU are different than the other billion businesswomen on the planet who are also addicted to their connection crutches but to tell you the truth, you are not.  Sorry to break that news to you.

Those who may be exempt:

  1. If you currently are working in an Emergency Room, are an “on call” doc or perhaps are an EMT, then you can keep yours ON during this day off.

For the rest of you that are saying to yourselves  ”what if… someone really needs me?” Or better “I make my living in sales with my cell phone;” that means you Realtors… well tell them up front they can call you on your land line and if you are not there.  LEAVE A MESSAGE.

What’s the Upside?

Now here’s a novel thought about what you can do with the time you will literally have on your hands this day.  Go and buy yourself a stamp, and put pen to paper and write someone a handwritten letter.  You many need a massage after to help with the cramps you will experience, but whoever you write to, will love receiving your letter later that week.

But here’s the real reason you are going to take on this challenge.  I want you to “just notice what you notice” about yourself for one full day of less distractions.  Notice how you love the freedom from the constant connection.  Notice that you feel out of sorts and seem to fumble around.  Notice what people actually look like when they talk with you this day.  Notice what you will be able to read between the lines in conversations with family, friends and co-workers. But most importantly notice yourself.

Being engaged in something, whether it’s your work, your relationships or yourself, means having a current conscious awareness of more than just the obvious that is surrounding you at any given time.  It means giving a dam about what you are doing.  And consciously making decisions to give it your all.  Here’s to shifting towards Re- Engagement.

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