I am one week into my plan to give up Twitter, Facebook and other social media. That part is going well. It’s the giving up personal email and cell phone use while in the car that has me cheating a little. I did sign on to Facebook twice but only to get a number or email I couldn’t get somewhere else. As much as I yearn for more time away from technology, it has become a way of life (and in many cases improves productivity). Even though I didn’t meet all of my goals, I have felt good about some of what has happened. Since I started my plan on Mother’s Day, I have:

- prepared two meals and cooked out for the family twice

-  played my guitar four times this week

-  started to organize finances and investment info

- played more games and read more books to the kids than I had in awhile

- penned 8 - 10 letters in my own handwriting!

I like where this is taking me and look forward to a total Facebook free week and continued sabbatical from other social media.

I’ll post again in a week or so.

Tim Richardson is an inspirational speaker who speaks about how giving increases employee morale, lowers employee turnover, increases customer loyalty and creates higher profits for Fortune 500 companies, healthcare organizations and professional associations. He is president and founder of the Bill Walter Melanoma Research Fund. For more information on Tim, go to www.TimRichardson.com

It’s time to take back some time. I’ve lost irretrievable time - sucked away into the black hole of technology. Of course, it’s my fault for not managing it better but I am claiming it back. Starting today on Mother’s Day until Father’s Day I am going cold turkey. No Facebook, no Twitter, no personal email and no other social media of any kind during this time. While I THINK there are some business benefits, I haven’t realized enough to warrant the estimated 4-6 hours a week I spend on it – hours I’ll now spend doing other things. Of course, there are some benefits of social media and technology but I think there is a great deal of time suck too. There are three things that inspired my action to go on a technology diet (which also includes a diet from the codependency I have with my cell phone).

1) An intense desire to connect more deeply and personally with family and friends

2) The hectic pace in which my life has been for most of this year (for which social media, in particular, has only contributed to the hurry)

3)  Efforts led by Oprah for a No Phone Zone (watch this video clip and print this No Phone Zone sign to put in your car).

The last few months I haven’t been helped but rather hindered by 24/7 access to email and social media. In the last month alone, I have witnessed or participated in the following:

- spending most of a 2 ½ hour flight from Denver online (while missing an incredible sunset outside.

- “complaining” to a flight attendant when Gogo (Delta’s in flight internet) wasn’t available on a short flight to Detroit last week.

-  stopping at a rest stop that had free wireless while driving from Iowa to Minnesota….just to try it out.

- twice seeing men in public restrooms texting while using the urinal

- conversing with a couple who, while she read Live The Life You’ve Always Wanted, he talked on his Crackberry Blackberry (he admitted in our conversation that sometimes at dinner with the family, he’d check email or respond\to a text while waiting for the food to arrive).

I’ve had enough (at least for awhile). So I am quitting… cold turkey. Yeah, I’ll travel with my phone if I am away on business but I have taken the Oprah No Phone Zone pledge and have printed it out, both to post in my car and in my luggage, as a reminder to pull over IF I have an URGENT call. I figured I survived until my early forties without a cell phone so I certainly can make it for 41 days. Extreme measure? Perhaps. Unnecessary? I think not.

My technology avoidance may not work for everyone but it’s a needed step for me to re-connect. Here’s what I expect to happen while on my temporary social media and cell sabbatical:

- less neck and shoulder stress from losing 4-6 hours a week in computer time

- a more relaxed schedule . I believe some of the very things that are supposed to help us connect with others have actually made most of us connected less with those who matter most.

- more time for building lasting relationships and less time on digital relationships that probably don’t matter.

- fewer but deeper “conversations” with people for whom I don’t need web access for “talking”.

- more time to play with and read to my kids.

- time to play or listen to music.

- quiet. Nothing. Letting my brain rest and my body regenerate.

- taking slow walks with my wife and family.

- time to make a few fabulous dinners from recipes I have been collecting from Facebook (just kidding).

It seems to me that one on one communication has been replaced by communication with the masses. So IF you want to “connect” with me during my sabbatical, “friend” me, or Twalk to me, you’ll have to do it the old fashioned way via snail mail or a phone call. I’ve faced the fact that I won’t be on Facebook and I won’t be Twalking on Twitter, and will only use e-mail for business communications. As for my cell phone, the ringer will be off and I will only use to call my family OR in a REAL emergency. I’m unplugging and I’ve never been so excited about the possibilities for real connections.

Tim Richardson is an inspirational speaker who speaks about how giving increases employee morale, lowers employee turnover, increases customer loyalty and creates higher profits for Fortune 500 companies, healthcare organizations and professional associations. He is president and founder of the Bill Walter Melanoma Research Fund. For more information on Tim, go to www.TimRichardson.com

The Collapse of Distinction - Great title. Great book. And never more true than today. My professional speaker colleague Scott McKain has a strong point of view in this book and I really like (and agree) with what I have read so far. My main take-a-way: we’ve so standardized so much of business that the truly distinctive companies (and perhaps individuals) are becoming extinct. McKain writes about customer service. That’s his domain. I write and speak about being RICH in a way I like to think of as distinctive. McKain is in a good space as there will always be a need to point out how important it is stand out. I think I am in a good space too as there are a plethora of books (and motivational speakers) who claim to have the secret to becoming wealthy. But few talk about what it really means to be RICH. As I thought about McKain’s examples and my own experiences the last few days, I have had both RICH examples (people who both get customer service and have figured out the RICH life thing). Executive director Freddie Templeton, and the many of the wonderful audience members from the Colorado State Association for Health Underwriters (my Thursday client) get it. The GREAT team at the Grand Hyatt TOTALLY gets customer service and while I didn’t have conversations about their RICH lives, I am guessing they get that too. The staff at the REI Fort Collins store gets it – they’re living their dream working in a career that keeps them close to outdoor activities that they love. It’s easy to GIVE great service when your passionate about the product or service. Colorado State University business school Dean Ajar gets it . Colin Powell, he’s clearly passionate about making a difference and he is smart and funny too!  Loveland Pass ski area get the RICH part but totally missed the service part today. Finally Delta airlines, whose chair I am sitting in as I write this really miss the mark. Due to a string of poor customer service interactions, Delta has finally motivated me to patronize another major airline. As a company they don’t get it at all.

Being distinctive makes both giving great customer service easier and living RICH more attainable.

Tim Richardson is an inspirational speaker who speaks about how giving increases employee morale, lowers employee turnover, increases customer loyalty and creates higher profits for Fortune 500 companies, healthcare organizations and professional associations. He is president and founder of the Bill Walter Melanoma Research Fund. For more information on Tim, go to www.TimRichardson.com