2S Strategy for Productivity

The 2S stands for 2 smart phones. I know what you are thinking 🙈 Hear me out before any of those judgements creep in.

A personal story.

I upgraded this year to iPhone 12 Pro from iPhone 7 for work reasons. That is a delta 5 upgrade. My iPhone 7 still works fab but I needed a better mobile camera for work. I am still doing the app transfer one by one [no i don't want to port everything mindlessly (yes, not even contacts)]. This time i want be absolutely sure about what I don't want more than what I want so I am carefully porting app by app. The experience taught me something more profound and that is what i am sharing with you.

Here is how to do it for max productivity.

1. Have 2 smart phones. If possible 2 similar phones like iPhones or Mi phones or whatever. Make one as call phone (SIM) and the other as internet phone (no SIM). Don't carry both phones everywhere. I am assuming you will only carry the call phone.
2. In the call phone, have essential apps and apps that promote positive habits only and in the other phone have everything else including test apps and apps you don't need everyday.
3. My positive habit apps include skillshare, kindle, iBooks, calendar, Time Timer etc. My essentials include Amazon, Google Pay, Google Maps, Dietsnaps and more.
4. Stick to ecosystem apps. If something is available in the ecosystem (Apple or Google or FB or Amazon), don't get another app for it. Stick to the default apps. Notes, Mail, Reminders, Google Maps, Gmail, Google Calendar etc. Ensure there is a strong reason to move from default apps.
5. All social media is segregated to one phone that does not have the SIM. This phone is kept away from work zone. Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Slack, Netflix and even MyGate. Everything that is a bottomless app sits in my other phone. Yes I could even do away without that phone and deal with many windows in my laptop but I find it super useful to have a phone dedicated for distraction.
6. There are countless unconscious urges to reach my phone for social media in a day. The minute it strikes me I don't have social media in this phone I am disappointed and I end up reading a few pages in a book.
7. Everything that can wait is waiting and there is no instant processing. I just add it as a reminder in my reminders app and get it done with the internet phone is used.
8. Adjust the home screen of the sacred phone to everyday apps. Push everything away.

Results & Reflections

• It has been almost a week now and my screen time has come down significantly. My call phone is about 2 hours (that too 50 mins iBooks) and my other phone is 31 mins including Twitter, LinkedIn and more. By nature I am a lazy person and dealing with two phones is not my cup of tea.
• I treat one phone as a sacred one and the other one like a dumpster, so naturally I stick to the sacred more. It is just a mind play and it is working amazingly well.
• I am able to download and test many more apps before I bring it to the sacred phone. It is like having a testing ground and a two step process before an app becomes a part of my life.
• I have silenced calls from all unknown numbers and my inner circle has names so I am less disturbed by calls as well.

The 2S strategy has given me immense peace and needed focus to do things that really matter at a time. Just for fun and experiment sake do this and see. In today's time we all have multiple gadgets and just having 2 phones for sanity is not a bad idea after all. Apple would have given me a very small exchange cost and now I am reaping better ROI with 2 phones. I didn't expect this or plan this. It just happened and happened to be a good idea. Let me know about your experimental results and learnings.

🥂 to focus in 2021.