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A highly-charged and always-on-the-go job is more susceptible to technostress, and in my experience, a mobile phone adds more to this than anything else.

Here are some things I learned along the way in how to keep my sanity:

Ring Once

Set your ring tone to “Ring Once.” Do yourself and others around you a favor. You only need to be alerted once when someone is calling. Your phone does not have to ring ceaselessly while you rummage thru your bag for your phone or while you decide whether to take the call or not.

And by the way, if you were not alerted on the 1st ring, what are the chances that you will be alerted on the 2nd ring? Pretty slim, if you ask me.

(Note: This tip is not advisable for those high-risk and health-related professions.)

Get another number

I carry 2 phones with me — one for “public” number (for work & friends), and another in a much smaller phone. This is my “in case of emergency” phone number, and strictly reserved for family. This is the phone I never turn off.

That reply can wait

There is an unconscious obligation to reply to SMS as soon as they come in.

Ask yourself why. Do you think it rude not to? Are you worried that people expect you to reply immediately? If yes, do you think it is right for them to continue to keep this expectation?

Sending SMS in quick succession is fun in times of boredom, but generally, I treat SMS like email — something that should be handled at a set time, and in the proper frame of mind.

I used to get chided for my “delayed responses” (in SMS lingo, delay means more than an hour of lead time). But I realized that I cannot allow myself to be interrupted for every SMS that comes in, and that I need to take control over my phone, instead of it controlling me.

Archive your SMS

My phone allows me to create an Archive folder. After I have replied to a message, I move it to this Archive folder. This keeps my Inbox clutter-free, allowing me to easily view the SMS that I still need to attend to.

I could also delete the message. However, as my job requires me to document all messages from clients (as they usually contain requirement changes and clarifications), the Archive system works best for me.

Turn it off

If you can’t take a call, forget the silent mode. Just turn your phone off.

I attend a school with very strict mobile phone rules. I found out that the best way to please both the school authorities and my clients is to simply turn off my phone during class. My clients are more understanding when they receive an “out of coverage” recording messages rather than a series of unanswered phone rings.

Alternatively, you can also divert your phone to your voice mailbox. That way, you will still be able to receive SMS.

SMS before calling

Except for dire emergencies, always send an SMS before calling, asking if they are free to talk. Call only when you get confirmation. That way, you will be sure that your intended recipient has put himself in an environment where he can give you and your call its due attention.

I have implemented this practice with almost all my call recipients, and they in turn have returned the courtesy. The “callee” appreciates the fact that I was polite enough to inquire about their availability, and that they can take the time to physically and mentally prepare themselves for my call.

The caller, on the other hand, appreciates that when I take their call, I am ready for it, and have the necessary note-taking instruments at hand.

It works. Trust me.

The obvious benefit of touch typing is the increase in typing speed. When I learned how to touch type, I discovered another little known advantage: Touch typing actually improved the thinking process. Transforming my thoughts into words was faster and easier — all because I didn’t need to shift my eyes to the keyboard to make sure I was hitting the right keys.

Yes, once upon a time, I too was a contented pindut pindut typist. I’ve been joyously pounding on my keyboard ever since I got hold of a typewriter. I’ve also written hundreds of documents and user manuals just using my two poor index fingers, and saw no real benefit in changing my ways.

Then Ry came along who encouraged us to give our poor fingers a break. It was a skill I never knew I needed, and now can’t live without.

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So how does one learn how to touch type? I tried a variety of software, and figured out that Stamina was the least frustrating of them all. It’s not perfect — if you’re a total retard on touch typing as I was, you really have to read the help file.

F1

One thing you have to keep in mind to keep your fingers on the home keys.

The home keys are ASDF and JKL;.  There are little pimples on the F and J keys which marked where you should position your index fingers. Consequently, the middle fingers should reside on the D and K, the ring fingers on the S and L, and the pinkies on the A and ;. Both thumbs should rest on the spacebar, although only the right thumb is used when pressing it.

Whenever you need to move your fingers away from these keys, always bring them back home. For example, if you’re going to move your middle finger in order to press I, move it back to K immediately.

Another golden rule: keep the fingers relaxed, and minimize finger and wrist movement. This was not an easy task for me — I was just learning to touch type, and my entire body, and yes, fingers included, tense up involuntarily. Talking to myself helps: “It’s just a keyboard, honey. Not a ticking timebomb.”

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The Lessons, or practice sets, can be found in the Mode menu. As almost everyone else, I started with the Basic Lessons. The goal is to go thru the lessons without looking at the keyboard.

There is a keyboard graphic which will guide you on which finger to use. You will actually find yourself pressing the correct keys by simply knowing the finger assignments.

After the Basic Lessons, you can move on to Phrases. I actually never finished Basic Lessons myself — typing the same character combination can be a real test on anyone’s sanity.

After a few days of Phrases, you could move on to External File. This is where you can actually practice touch typing using your preferred text. The web is a vast resource of possible external files (I personally prefer Newsweek and Time Magazine). Simply copy the article, and save them to a text file.

A tip for those using External Files: Make sure that you replace these characters — “ ”  with - " ‘. See the difference? The first set of characters is actually not represented by any key in a standard keyboard. In order to display these characters, you have to press ALT plus a series of digits.  It is recommended that you replace these characters with those that can easily be generated by pressing a single key.

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After 2 weeks of Stamina, I have increased my typing speed to 81 words per minute, or 406 characters per minute.

In spite of this, I don’t see myself uninstalling Stamina yet. For one thing, I am still trying to get the hang of touch typing HTML/PHP. And I have to admit, there’s another benefit of Stamina – it is very relaxing. Whenever stress starts taking over, I just let my fingers do the typing

Although it is not something you would usually admit at a job interview (and if you do, I highly suggest you don’t), there is a procrastinator in all of us, most especially concerning tasks which we find boring or tedious. Thankfully, the 15-minute rule is here to rescue us from the hole. The “rule” is an effective way to minimize this procrastination, as it encourages you to do the most you can within a certain span of time.

In my job, I get more excited in the planning, tracking, and process-improvement aspects of project management. (Also in ordering people around, as my bitter half ruefully added. But that’s another story.)

Although in love with my work, there are parts of my standard job description which I don’t exactly look forward to:

• Writing the weekly status reports
• Reviewing and verifying change requests
• Task reviews
• Auditing the test cases and results

I would sometimes hold these off until the last minute (or until my boss starts taking a deep breath, whichever comes first). It drove me crazy — cramming gave me a lot of stress, and basically threw my sophisticated Outlook scheduling out the window.

It is by sheer luck (and a lot of procrastinated time on my hands) that I discovered FlyLady, who introduced me to the concepts of this rule.

The 15-minute rule: Shall we dance?

The 15-minute rule states that you should do a task within 15 minutes. After the allotted 15 minutes, you should stop working on that particular task. You may then proceed to another one for the next 15 minutes, or maybe even take a short break.

“Sira ba tuktok mo? 15 minutes lang?” (Literal English translation: “Is your head destroyed? Only 15 minutes?” Hehe.). However, after trying it with seven other people in the team, I realized FlyLady isn’t as crazy as I thought:

• There is a noticeable improvement in our productivity, and that’s saying something in a team which thrives on Spider Solitaire and Counter Strike. Our biggest problem was actually just getting started. However, with this rule, fifteen minutes just doesn’t seem like a big deal. That’s a lot less time as compared to our weekly Minesweeper Championships.
    
• One of my colleagues is now a Time Management Evangelist, and boasts she can do anything in 15 minutes. She explained that the 15-minute deadline actually boosted her concentration, and gave her a surge of energy to work as fast as we could. (We always chide our boss it’s time to increase her workload.)
    
• A guy in the QA department actually thought there was something wrong with his cellphone’s timer, because he keeps on finishing his test cases way before the alarm would go off

Right foot first, left foot next

Why don’t you try it?

Choose a task that you have been procrastinating on — writing that proposal, doing the laundry, wrapping a gift, or that pending status report.

Now, grab a timer (any timer with an alarm), and set it for 15 minutes. This is important, because the alarm is the big jolt telling you when to stop. We usually get carried away with one task, leaving no more room for more.

Now, do that task for only 15 minutes, and nothing more.

Notice the difference?

Now shake it

Here are some personal variations:

• When I need to continue on the same task, I make sure that I alternate it with another one. Keeps me on my toes, and prevents burnouts.
    
• When I’m feeling unnaturally lazy, I would do my revised “10-minute rule”, which is basically the same thing, except that I set the timer to 10 minutes instead of 15.
    
• I noticed this rule is particularly useful in doing the Dreaded Client Routine Calls. Surprises of surprises, I discovered I only spend an average of 3 minutes per phone call — definitely something I should not have procrastinated on before.
    
• Whenever I fall of the wagon and go back to my procrastinating ways (old dogs, new tricks, and all that crap), I would use a different timer for variety. Or sometimes I would ask a co-worker to use the same timer with me. Misery, and deadlines, love company

Let’s boogie

But don’t take my word for it: Browse thru the FlyLady website and read the inspiring anecdotes of how this rule actually helped people all over the globe. Now that you’re at it, might as well browse the other tips too, and with a little creativity, you will see how you can apply these tips to the workplace. (I especially love the article on zoning.)

Now let’s go crazy. Get that butt and timer rolling, and tell me how it works for you.

I screamed at our cat, and watched in delight as she scurried out of my way. This happened right after I slammed the phone down on my bitter half, because of an argument I obviously started. A few hours ago, I also scathingly replied to a mailing list post by some smart aleck who thinks that all websites should conform to his personal “standards.”

Someone needs to outlaw these menstrual cramps.

I consider cramps one of my “showstoppers,” which basically means a (seemingly) valid reason not to work.

Each person at work has his own list of showstoppers. The ones which are generally unavoidable, less frequent, and “reasonable” are usually tolerated. For instance, my boss finally considered cramps as valid showstoppers when a colleague found me crawling in the bathroom (although it’s not exactly a vacation staying at home and watching DVDs with a hot bottle on your tummy).

What’s in your Showstopper List? Here are mine:

1. Menstrual cramps. A cramp, or dysmenorrhea, is a painful menstruation. Some women experience it, some don’t. Apparently, when the angels showered the women the blessings of unobtrusive menstrual cycles, I was locked up somewhere in a dungeon.
     
2. Desktop computers. Not exactly a showstopper, but I have always considered it a major annoyance. Desktops are not only meant to take up the desk space, they are actually a form of Chinese torture meant to imprison me in my cubicle, to deafen me from the office noise, and simply to bore my brains out.
     
   Lest you think I had it going well in the workplace, I did experience working on a desktop in a previous job. Believe me, it was a major test of willpower. It was also a major test of resourcefulness – in the continuous search for office corners offering peace, quiet, and emancipation, and in figuring out the least eye-straining way to draft a report on a Nokia 9210.
     
   One good thing happened in that experience though: I rediscovered my handwriting, thanks to the numerous Release Bulletins I actually wrote in longhand while sipping a nice Chocolate Frappuccino in Starbucks.

There is no doubt in my mind that there would be more showstoppers to come. Stay tuned to this page.

And before I forget: what are yours?