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Cell Phone Challenge
For those of you who want some extra practice with waiting, I invite you to try the cell phone tone challenge. How
many of you get a tone when someone texts you? Have any of you been checking your phone even during this class?
How long do you wait before checking your phone to read the text? For most of us, we check immediately, without
thought. Do you think you can increase the amount of time that you wait before checking your phone? I challenge
you to count how many seconds you can wait and see if you can increase that amount of time. Also, notice what
you are doing when you can wait and when you can’t wait. Does it matter if you are bored, tired, hungry or happy,
content, or involved in a meaningful activity?
Practice Plan
Let’s take a minute to look in your journal at the Lesson 1 Practice Plan. There you will see a list of the exercises
that we did today. Please complete this page, which will help you set goals for which skills you will practice,
when, and how often. When we put our goals in writing, we are often more likely to follow through. Also, there
are free apps that you can download on your cell phone. These apps can help you increase the quantity and
quality of your exercises and also help you track your practice.
Cell Phone App
See the PowerPoint for Lesson 1 for a suggestion of free cell phone apps that assist participants with
their practice.
If time permits, ask them to share their plan with the person sitting next to them.
Final Self-Soothing Skill
We believe so much in the importance of these skills that we are going to begin and end every class with a self-
soothing skill. I want you to close your journals so that you can take a minute to participate.
Depending on time, you can allow the participants to pick the self-soothing skill: Focused Breathing, Peripheral
Vision, or 5–4–3–2–1 Skill.
Thank you for your presence today and I look forward to our next class! And remember that with practice, we can
learn to wait and then increase our chances of living the life we desire.
Cell Phone Challenge
For those of you who want some extra practice with waiting, I invite you to try the cell phone tone challenge. How
many of you get a tone when someone texts you? Have any of you been checking your phone even during this class?
How long do you wait before checking your phone to read the text? For most of us, we check immediately, without
thought. Do you think you can increase the amount of time that you wait before checking your phone? I challenge
you to count how many seconds you can wait and see if you can increase that amount of time. Also, notice what
you are doing when you can wait and when you can’t wait. Does it matter if you are bored, tired, hungry or happy,
content, or involved in a meaningful activity?
Practice Plan
Let’s take a minute to look in your journal at the Lesson 1 Practice Plan. There you will see a list of the exercises
that we did today. Please complete this page, which will help you set goals for which skills you will practice,
when, and how often. When we put our goals in writing, we are often more likely to follow through. Also, there
are free apps that you can download on your cell phone. These apps can help you increase the quantity and
quality of your exercises and also help you track your practice.
Cell Phone App
See the PowerPoint for Lesson 1 for a suggestion of free cell phone apps that assist participants with
their practice.
If time permits, ask them to share their plan with the person sitting next to them.
Final Self-Soothing Skill
We believe so much in the importance of these skills that we are going to begin and end every class with a self-
soothing skill. I want you to close your journals so that you can take a minute to participate.
Depending on time, you can allow the participants to pick the self-soothing skill: Focused Breathing, Peripheral
Vision, or 5–4–3–2–1 Skill.
Thank you for your presence today and I look forward to our next class! And remember that with practice, we can
learn to wait and then increase our chances of living the life we desire.
