Tommy Short spent nearly two decades officiating Division I college basketball and international play -- and was attached to his phone every minute of it. After retirement, a question from his young daughter stopped him cold: "Daddy, why are you always on your phone?"

He didn't have a good answer. So on August 6th, 2023, he turned his phone off for a full year.

In this conversation, Tommy walks Eric through what he found: the phantom pocket-patching, the 68 extra days he reclaimed, and the deeper realization that he wasn't addicted to the device -- he was addicted to the identity he had curated using it. He also opens up about losing his mom during the writing process, how therapy unlocked the final version of the book, and why he rewrote the entire manuscript in 22 days.

I Almost Missed the Call is available now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Walmart. Learn more at TommyShort.com.

Chris Denson | Founder, Visionology | Innovation strategist, author, and former head of innovation at the world's largest media agency.

Adam Castillo is a Marine Corps veteran who deployed to Afghanistan, built a security company in Myanmar, and spent 12+ years leading the American business community through a coup, civil war, typhoon, and earthquake. His book Finding Our Voice, published March 24, 2026, chronicles the speeches he gave to a broken community to help them believe in themselves again.