The antiquated rotary phone - off the hook! Photo by Zedcor Wholly Owned The so-called mobile phone is actually a computer with a phone capability and other wickedly wonderful things that it can do.

For those of you who grew up during the second half of the last century – in other words, when a block-like instrument with a dial face and a headset was in your house – usually in the hallway and the only thing it could do was talk to someone else. It also had only one ring tone.

There were also no computers at that time. You either had to use slide rules or hugely expensive calculators that could solve all those complex mathematical problems, such as how much would you save if you paid an extra 50 Rand off on your house mortgage!

Although we didn't realise how deprived we were, because we thought we were at the cutting edge of technology – and we pretty much were. In fact, if you compare that time to today, we were pretty deprived.

Recently I tried to list all the things I can do on my phone. Every time I thought I had completed the list, I found something new, or something that I hadn't realised I could do!

It's fair to say that the phone dominates our lives. I could leave home without underwear and still have a reasonably good day – maybe a bit uncomfortable, but not unbearably so.

But without my phone, my day would be a complete disaster. I need to be looking at, or interacting with, my phone for much of my working hours. But it is time spent mostly on work issues.

The problem arises when I only have one thing to do on my phone. Let's say checking WhatsApp to see if my client has replied to a question I had posed to them.

Of course, there are other messages and other app icons jumping into my vision while I am doing my one valid thing.

I then get distracted away to the other things. These are not games or mindless scrolling I am talking about. I am triggered to check my emails, write a WhatsApp message, check my bank balance, or even read another chapter of the story I am reading on Kindle!

I don't go shopping much these days; I order mostly online for delivery. It saves me oodles of time. I don't just order from restaurants, I order my groceries and DIY goods online.

These are all valid time-saving activities, but only if I do what I had planned to do. If I get distracted, it's a senseless waste of time.

For most people, the solution to being distracted is simple - have some self-discipline. Actually, strike that. Self-discipline is definitely not simple for ADDers.

Setting alarms for the next day | Photo by Anna TarazevichHere is something you might want to try. It's something I have developed over the years, and it seems to work for most of my clients and for me.

As part of your evening ritual, sit alone. This is an important activity, and you need to concentrate. Open the clock function on your phone. Set alarms for all your known activities where you know the times. 

Then set alarms for the "timeless" tasks. These times are not hard and fast because you can move them around. Just know how good it feels when you complete tasks, and they are no longer on your to-do list.

You still need some self-discipline to focus on – and do that one thing you had planned to do. But somehow, this way seems easier to do because you had "planned it!" You don't want to be ashamed of yourself, do you?

Trying out this method, you might find that you have saved as much as a whole hour in your day.

You can use that to do something extra and so get ahead of your plan.

Or you relax and play on your phone. 

Photo by Anna Tarazevich