The telephone is there for your convenience, not for the convenience of your callers. Soon as we hear the phone ring, we act as if we are firefighters rushing to a five-alarm fire.

People interrupt quiet family dinners, dedicated reading times to answer those seemingly urgent phone calls, many of which turn out to be ones that could have been taken later.

You no longer need to be interrupted by the ringing phone and can spend your time on life’s more important pursuits.

The habit of picking up the phone every time it rings is a hard one to break.

But once you get good at letting it ring, whether it is reading a good book, having a heart-to-heart conversation with your life partner or playing with your children, you will wonder what the hurry to pick up the phone was all about in the first place.