The BlackBerry is a wonderful invention, isn't it? It has, without a doubt, revolutionised the modern day workplace. Those who used to be tethered to their desks can now leave and breathe some fresh air without feeling that they are missing out on something. But wait. Although they may no longer be tethered to their desks, they're now tethered to their BlackBerrys. Doh! And for many, this has become a step backwards, rather than a step forwards. Because, whilst in the old days, you left your desk and you stopped working because your work was no longer within reach, with a BlackBerry it's always within reach. And you know what that's like, I'm sure: reaching for the device in your pocket whenever you have 'down time' in your life, no matter how fleeting that might be: standing in the elevator, waiting in the queue at Sainsbury's, standing in line to collect your bags off the carousel at the airport, watching your kids are playing in the park. It's fast becoming an obsession. An addiction. And neither of those states is good.
So, what to do? The first thing is to face up to how much the BlackBerry is controlling your life — perhaps without you even knowing it. Did you realise that if you take a little look at your inbox once every 15 minutes (and think about it — you might find that you look at it more often than you think you do), this equates to checking it over 25,000 times a year. Just stop for a moment and think about that. It's huge. So what can you do to manage your addiction? The power to manage this is in your hands (no pun intended).
Set boundaries. Be clear with yourself about how much time you want to work a day, and stick to it. So, if you leave the office at 7pm, make a deal with yourself that this is when your working day ends. Switch off your BlackBerry, and don't switch it on until the next morning. Your kids will thank you for it.
Have a personal device and a work device. When you are off at the weekend, leave your work device at home. If there's something major going on, and you need to be contactable, give out your personal mobile so that you can be reached in an emergency. But if you have your work BlackBerry with you, you know you'll peek at everything that pings and vibrates into your inbox. It's your life, so take control of it. Make that distinction between your work life and home life.
Get some perspective. Will your firm really crumble if you aren't watching your inbox, hawk-like, waiting to swoop in and solve the most minor of work issues, the very moment they appear? Are you really that important? Let me help you out with the answer to that question. No. You. Are. Not. No matter who you are, what you do — there will always be someone there to replace you. If you died tomorrow, they would carry on. Without you. So get some perspective.
The BlackBerry has no business in the bedroom. There's a famous story about Madonna and Guy Ritchie who said that they kept their BlackBerrys under their respective pillows in the marital bed. And now they're divorced. You might like to take a moment and think about that. There is no place for the BlackBerry in the bedroom. No place at all.
David Thompson is the author of Career Helium, Trust Unwrapped, and The Magic BlackBerry, published by Marshall Cavendish (magicblackberry.co.uk/index.html), and runs the boutique people and organisation consultancy Beyond the Dots (beyondthedots.com)
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