A Day Without My Laptop
Spoiler: No Miracles Ahead
I changed the password of my office laptop in the morning, used it the entire day, shut it down before sleeping, and I was locked out the next day.
Probably I entered the wrong password, as I changed it only yesterday and not used to it. I tried entering the password at a slow speed, tried the old password, but nothing worked.
I reached office late, hoping that connecting to the office network will resolve the issue.
It was about two hours before the closing time of the local IT office when they realized they’ll have to re-image it. They closed the office at 5 PM and I was without my laptop, it was to be collected the next day.
Even though I was locked out of my laptop since morning, the realization that it is a period without laptop occurred to me now. Since I couldn’t do much, I left early for the home to enjoy the laptop-free time.
I had my mobile phone, which is smart enough to keep me connected to the internet.
I was expecting a sudden boost in my productivity and energy. I was expecting to read all the books(ok, at least one book) that were pending only because the laptop distracted me. I was expecting to hit the gym, that I had not done for about two weeks. I was expecting to finally get dedicated, undisturbed, undistracted half an hour for my flute practice.
Reality:
- I did not spend much time on YouTube, but I did use Instagram on my phone.
- I did pick a book, but I could only read a few pages.
- I started feeling like writing a post on Medium but did not have the laptop.
- Slept a bit earlier than usual, woke up late.
- I did not go to the gym, could not practice flute. Picked a book again, read at my normal speed.
- Started thinking about the emails I am missing (I do not get work-related mail on phone) and the meetings I can not check.
- Ran to the office, as soon as got a call from IT office telling that my laptop is ready.
What did I learn?
We blame laptop, mobile, and internet for our laziness, for all the things we are not able to do, and for all the goals are far from achieving. Completely getting rid of them is not a feasible solution. Even if we manage to do it, we won’t somehow start working out the very next morning, we won’t be free from all the bad habits the very moment.
Laziness and other bad habits could be getting supported by the internet, but we can replace them with good habits while staying connected to the world.
Most importantly, developing good habits is about how we use the resources available to us, and how dedicated we are to put serious time and effort.
Instead of blaming the devices, start using them to build healthy habits that will replace the unhealthy ones.
