In keeping with my belief that Learning Leads to Advancement, you should strive to keep pushing yourself to know more and to get better. Last night at a New Year’s Eve party, a friend mentioned that he’d given up trying to keep up with technology. He’d stopped being fully engaged with his life and is coasting.

I want to ask him, “Why?” Life passes so quickly, we get limited opportunities to know and to do. I hate the idea of tiptoeing through life to get to death safely. I want to live fully engaged with many great relationships and want lots of people sad and missing me when I die.

So if you decide to live all in, put some of that intensity into technology expertise. Yesterday I wrote about #1: Bet on Google, encouraging you to immerse yourself in all the advantages this amazing company offers. Today, we focus on one tool.

#2: USE A SMART PHONE

I speak with lots of folks in the construction industry that say, “Yea, I know I should get a smart phone, I just haven’t gotten around to it yet.” For some, it’s just procrastination. For others, the thought of having 24/7 email and internet access sounds like more pain than benefit. I felt that way too. But when I got the smart phone, I loved it. Most people express similar sentiments. Do you know anyone that got an iPhone or Android, used it for a while, then went back to their old phone? I don’t.

So if you don’t have a smart phone, get one. Don’t stop there, though. Too many people just use the email and texting, check the internet occasionally and do nothing else. You’ve got to get phone apps and use them. Search for the 25 most popular apps for your phone and download a few of them. Use them both for fun and to improve your productivity. Remember, Learn and Advance.

If you don’t have a smart phone, see my previous post Shopping for a Smart Phone for Construction? If you’ve got a smart phone, buy some apps today and start to put that tool to better use!