How many of you have a photo of your pet as the background image on your cell phone screen? I must admit that I still do, even though I’ve been writing about micro-marketing for almost a year.

Loyal readers know that I adore my dog. It makes me happy to see his picture and of course there’s nothing at all wrong with that. But I consult my cell phone many times every day because I use it for both a clock and a telephone, and I’m starting to wonder if I might be seriously underutilizing some really prime advertising space. In fact, I’m thinking that a picture in a display location I’m exposed to that frequently should probably be chosen very consciously; possibly to support very high-priority goals.

Take a picture

It’s possible to use pictures for your cell phone’s screen that you’ve downloaded or taken with another camera, but uploading them can be pretty complicated and/or not work very well. Therefore I recommend using the camera in your phone, if you have one, to take the picture for its background.

Here’s an easy way to start: Maybe there is some object you want in your life. Snap a quick picture of it and make it your phone’s background for a couple of weeks. See if you notice yourself taking more of the steps necessary to acquire that thing, whatever it is.

Better yet, recruit someone else to help take the picture. Have them take a picture of you with your phone’s camera doing something you’d like to spend more time on. Asking for help makes it possible to put yourself in the picture. That’s kind of important for this project, because otherwise you’re going to make sure you see a photo of the situation you want to attract many times every day…WITHOUT YOU IN IT!

I’d rather be…

The photo your friend helps you take could be a picture of you in a place:

• in your hammock
• in your boat
• on your bicycle
• in your workshop
• in your garden
• on your motorcycle
• on a trail
• at a football game
• at your favorite vacation destination

Doing an activity:

• hiking
• walking
• running
• rowing
• dancing
• reading
• relaxing
• gardening
• working out
• meditating

Or being with a person you want to spend more time with:

• your partner
• your children
• your long-lost friend
• your boyfriend
• your girlfriend
• a group of pals
• your parents
• your coach

Or yes, even…

• your pet

How to change your cell phone’s background

Of course the steps you need to take to change the background picture on your phone will vary a bit from device to device. But you generally want to look for a menu of choices called something like Settings or Preferences. From there, look for a menu item called something like Display. For example, here are the steps I go through to choose a new picture for the background on my Sprint Samsung phone:

• Settings
• Display
• Screen Saver
• Main LDC
• My Albums
• My Content
• Images

Then change it again!

I’ve changed my phone’s background a couple of times while researching this article and have noticed that the mere fact that it’s different – not the image I’m used to and have learned to ignore – gets my attention. That’s good. It suggests to me that I might want to re-think my usual habit of choosing a picture I like and leaving it there for a couple of years!

So now that you know how to change your phone’s background image, look for chances to collect pictures for it. When you catch yourself in the act of doing something you want to do more, take the opportunity to ask someone to take your picture with your phone. Then, when you notice yourself starting to ignore the image on your screen, you’ll have several pictures to choose from for your new background.

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