Bored and Brilliant: BOOT CAMP

Want to help shape Note to Self's next big project? We need to know what's driving you absolutely nuts right now. Take our short survey here. We're going to get right to the point: No more sacrificing our precious vacation time to our phones! Earlier this year, tens of thousands of you took part in our Bored and Brilliant Project, a week of challenges that pushed us to rethink our relationship with our phones and jumpstart our creativity. Now that it's July, we've adapted the idea into a short, condensed bootcamp version with three very do-able, modifiable challenges for those of you on a beach (or stuck at the office wishing you were on a beach). If you took part, consider this a seasonal tune-up (ahem those of you who deleted Candy Crush Soda but kept Candy Crush). If you missed it the first time around, welcome to the club. If you heard about it in January and, ah, chickened out, take a few deep breaths and consider this our belated gift to you. This is not a digital detox. This is not an edict to lock your phone away in a drawer. This is not an ode to mindfulness. It is a way to apply what we know about constant notifications, neuroscience, and productivity to our lives. Right now. Listen above for the boot camp! And if you want to do the full week's worth of challenges, sign up here for a new one in your inbox every day:   If you're interested in seeing how much time you really spend on your phone, you can download an app that will run in the background of your phone, calculating how much time you spend on it. We recommend Moment, BreakFree, or Checky. We've got more information here. And for those of you who want all of the challenges at once, here's the full, extended series. The Case for Boredom What 95 Minutes of Phone Time a Day Does To Us Challenge 1: In Your Pocket Challenge 2: Photo Free Challenge 3: Delete That App Challenge 4: Fauxcation Challenge 5: Small Observation Challenge 6: Dream House The Winning Dream Houses The Results The Personal Stories    As always, subscribe to Note to Self on iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn, I Heart Radio, or anywhere else using our RSS feed.