INTRODUCTION

Prep Work RETRO PRAYER

LIFE CHALLENGE

ber of hours
saw the num Here's The Deal
st k
When I fir eek, all I could thin
ent in a w
Is p
​The average person spends about 3 1/2 hours on their phone

? ??”
every day. Some stats report that it’s actually over 5 hours!

W H Y
was, “
Over a week, that’s about a full 24-hour day! Are you sick yet?

Deep in our hearts, we know our phones don’t satisfy us

compared to time with the Lord. But we still choose them
repeatedly. We’ll unpack why I think that is throughout this
challenge, but let’s start here.

We want to spend more time in prayer, and we know at least

some of the time we’re spending on our phones is a waste, so
what are we going to do?

Trade one hour on our phones for one hour of prayer a day
from January 23-27. Yes, it’s going to be a challenge (hence the
title) but I promise, even if we make a little progress, it will be
worth it!

In this guide, I’ll map out the logistics, but throughout the
challenge, you’ll get an email each day addressing the internal
issues that help make something as simple as praying, instead
of wasting time on our phones, actually happen.

Read all the way to the end for an amazing giveaway that has
helped me shave 25% off my screen time in one single week!

Val

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Where Has The Time Gone?
The first thing we gotta do is see where our time is going on our phones, so we can be intentional about shrinking it. See the
box below for how to check that if you don’t already know. Then, take 10 minutes to analyze your personal phone use stats:.

WHEN DO YOU PICK UP YOUR PHONE MOST?

IPHONE
Is it in the evenings after the kids go to bed? Have a rule that
Tap Settings > Screen Time > See All Activity
the phone gets put up right before dinner. (I have to do this if
I’m gonna be successful with having no mindless scrolling at ANDROID
night.) Is it in the car line? Bring a book. While you watch Tap Settings > Digital Wellbeing > Show Your Data
TV? Stretch or fold laundry instead. These are just examples
from my life, but thoughtfully think through your most
difficult times and make a plan for what works for you.
WHAT APP CATCHES MOST OF YOUR
ATTENTION?

Is it Instagram? Maybe you only use it a few days of the week

and delete it the other days? Is it text messaging? Maybe you
WHAT ARE YOU INITIALLY PICKING UP
plan a time for a good phone call or in-person visit instead.
YOUR PHONE TO LOOK AT, AND WHERE DO
YOU GO FROM THERE?

I love that Apple tracks this because we can better identify

the thing that’s drawing us to our phones. Under "See All
Activity", scroll down to “First Used After Pickup”. It may
IS ONE DAY HIGHER THAN ALL THE REST?
not actually be what we spend the MOST time on, but it’s the
thing that has us picking up our phones in the first place. If What happened that day that made it easier to reach for
we can curb this number, we can avoid those mindless your phone? Was it political news? The evening of your
choices we make after we’ve looked at the time, the text favorite reality show? I NEVER plan for these things, but
message, or the calculator. Maybe, you always use the they tend to just happen without me thinking.
calculator feature for work, but that two-minute check turns
into checking email, social media, and text messages. A $4
calculator from Amazon may be worth all the time you’d
save.

This information is so powerful. It can be frustrating to

see where we spend our time, but acknowledging the
problem leads us to make a choice to change it!

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Where Will The Time Go?
Now, we come up with a prayer strategy! I’ll be the first to admit. I know how time works. I’ve seen how slow minutes can
be. Praying for an hour a day for ANYONE is a LOT! But what I do know, is it’s never been something I regretted, making an
effort to pray more. I don’t pretend to do it every day though, so I’m going to be going through this challenge right alongside
you.

Here’s what I do know, breaking it up in your days will likely make it easier than you think. Here’s a quick and easy
breakdown if you aren’t sure how prayer could fit into your season. Remember, this isn’t the law. This is just to give you
some idea for those seasons of life we commonly feel like it's hard to imagine finding 60 extra minutes in a day. Break it up
for how it makes sense to you.
low. 1
(Keep expectations
ith a
hour of prayer w e!!)
alleng
newborn is a ch
College Student Career Woman Newborn

20 minutes before school 30 minutes before work 10 minutes nursing session

10 minutes commute to class
30 minutes before bed
10 minutes walk during lunch
10 minutes during commute
10 minutes before bed
(you can do it hands free!)
20 minutes during nap
10 minutes rocking a baby
10 minutes nursing session
10 minutes stroller walk

Toddler School-Aged Kids My Plan

10 minutes before kids wake up 30 minutes before wake up

(or actually get out of bed) 10 minutes walk
20 minutes stroller walk 10 minutes in carline
20 minutes nap time 10 minutes before bed
10 minutes tidying up

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A CHECK-IN

If this still feels impossible, DO NOT LET ONE

HOUR BECOME THE ROADBLOCK! Just focus
on trading 1-for-1. One minute on your phone
for one minute in prayer. Decide how many
minutes you’re ready to challenge yourself
with and go with it!

Growing a consistent habit of prayer, no

matter how small, is the goal instead of really
long prayer sessions that happen once in a blue
moon.

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Here Are Some Ideas:
Keep your phone put away for at least the first 1-
2 hours of the day.
If you’re a mom with school-aged kids, keep the
phone up while doing homework. This will not
only help you be more present and helpful, but
will help get homework time done quicker!
Spend 3 minutes in prayer before picking up
your phone (unless you’re picking up to answer
a call obvi). This is what Charles Duhigg talks
about in his book, The Power of Habit. Adding
obstacles to a bad habit gives us opportunities to
resist it. At the end of this email, we’ve got some
lock screens for your phone that will help with
this too!
Phone up by dinner - By the time you sit down
to dinner with the family, if the phone is put up
for the night, you are more likely not to fall on
the couch after getting the kids wrangled. This
has been tremendously helpful for me!
For the other times, simply grab your prayer
journal and start talking with God.

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Helpful Resources
30-MINUTE PRAYER METHOD

Need help with those longer stretches? Get our 30-minute format at valmariepaper.com/method.

A PAPER PRAYER JOURNAL

Keep track of prayer requests just like our grandmothers. We have a slight upgrade from the blank
composition notebooks for ya at valmariepaper.com.

ADAGIO EVENING PRAYER JOURNAL

This is the single sweetest way to go to sleep! I’ve found myself shutting down my iPad, mid-Seinfeld episode,
to get to my journal time. Grab it at valmariepaper.com or on Amazon.

PRAY CONFIDENTLY AND CONSISTENTLY

We always say, if you’re reading on prayer, you’re more likely to pray. It’s not only motivating, and reminds
you why you want to pray, but it also may help break down some of the mental obstacles you have. Here
are the first two chapters for free to get you started: bit.ly/pccsample

PODCAST EPISODE W/ ARLENE

Arlene Pellicane inspires me to put down my phone! Go to Ep. 66 on Prayer in a Noisy World Podcast.

SCREEN KIDS FILM AND BOOK

If you have kids, check out this book and short film. I loved hearing from the perspective of Arlene’s kids
about life without phones. Go to happyhomeuniversity.com/film.

ALARM CLOCK

Get an alarm clock if you sleep with your phone next to you. The health benefits and time benefits of not
sleeping next to your phone are more than worth the cost of a clock. This $15 may be the difference between
7 hours on your phone or 7 hours in prayer a week. Find one at a.co/d/41X4FTQ.

We debated giving additional content during the challenge, like live videos and teachings with guest speakers, but
hello!, we’d literally be pouring water into a bucket we want to help you empty, so you can fill it up with something
better! So, besides the quick daily email and a short reply, we’re keeping it simple!

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 Giveaway
Because we really want you to stick it
out! It’s one week! Keep checking the
emails, keep doing your best to trade 1-
for-1, and hit reply on those questions
we give you to help process all this!
We’ll be giving away a year’s
subscription for Aro! ($180 value!!)

It’s not just an app to help you cut back

on screen time. It includes a sleek box
that literally does the work for you! You
drop your phone in the box (up to 4
phones, so perfect if you have teenagers
too!), and it starts the timer tracking
how long you leave it in the box. You
set goals and try to hit them every day. I
got one for our family and am LOVING
it!! Screen time is down 25%!
An Aesthetically Pleasing Stop Sign
Can I be honest? I totally forgot lock screens and designing cutesy wallpapers for your phone was still a thing until Arlene
mentioned it in our interview. I decided in that convo that I needed to make one for us, so here you go–a little reminder
when you pick up your phone that you could be doing something so much sweeter than scrolling. To download, visit
valmariepaper.com/wallpaper.

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I'll leave you with this final thought:
Imagine spending one less hour a day on your
phone for a week, or 7 more hours in prayer.

Ahhh. Nice isn’t it?

My hope and prayer is that maybe, in a week,

we won’t have to imagine.

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a simple structure
a vibrant experience

FIND OUR PRAYER JOURNALS AT

VALMARIEPAPER.COM