I used to be one of those texters that dropped everything I did to answer a text immediately. I had no patience or self-control. I didn't realize that responding to every text as soon as possible conveyed a neediness and a lack of a life on my part.

Then I started playing chess on my phone. In chess, people take turns moving back and forth. Each move must be calculated, one false step can cost the game. When I moved too fast without analyzing all the options, I would oftentimes make that mistake which would lose me the game. This taught me patience. I started taking longer to do a move. On my phone I would take tens of minutes before executing a move.

I applied this lesson to my text game. When I received a text, I would treat it like a chess game: analyze all the different options, take my time, and respond with a birth of time that was appropriate.

Now my text game is like my chess game. I highly recommend using the app Chess With Friends. It has made a marked difference for me with texting.