Oh, I could so relate to this! I've completely given up on email, and mostly work to catch all the valuable emails among the dust and ads. I've read about tracking time before, but your energy graph is fascinating; I think I'll try that myself, too. Thank you for the idea! And the comments below were helpful, too; so many good ideas. I think you hit a nerve. :)
I'm glad the energy tracking resonated! It's one of my favorite exercises in this class. It can be really interesting to see patterns-- like are you doing a bunch of energy draining things all at the same time or if you do it over a few days are there things that feel more draining at certain time a day. And yes, there is SO much dust in my inbox sometimes (love this description).
I love this essay, Mary Chris! I never thought to map out a day to see what parts or projects drain my energy and what nourish my energy. Instituting "office hours" is brilliant. I think that almost everyone feels like they're constantly behind in some way, and it can be daunting! Especially when comparing ourselves to others and how their lives "seem" to look. And on a side note: I admittedly love watching Emily in Paris (the first season was kind of bad, but the second season was so good).
Agreed! I do think we all feel constantly behind in some way. I'm really loving the take on this in Four Thousand Weeks -- the idea that we just have to get okay with somethings not getting done (which I know is so easy to read about and hard to implement- but I feel like I'm ready to try). On the Emily in Paris note-- completely agree. Especially the first couple episodes I really wasn't sure, but the second season was much better. And it's honestly just pretty-- the clothes. Paris. It feels like a nice escape for a bit.
It used to be I kept email shut, and then only opened it after 1PM. I got out of that habit, and opening it first thing is a major day-derailing moment. This was a good reminder to go back to my 1PM bit. I'm in EST which means for about half the country my answer is coming in the morning. (And what am I doing but responding to your email at 9:34AM. Tomorrow, honey, tomorrow…)
Yes! I try really hard to not look at social media until after lunch (one of the guardrails I mention here that I got from Digital Minimalism). I can totally tell a difference in focus when I'm sticking to that versus not. I love that you do this with email. (And yes, tomorrow . . .! )
Loved the radical honesty of the awkward double sided message- email me, but don’t. Was thinking it also could've be a fine segue to differentiating between junk email and authentic correspondence. And the ps response hoping his/her email wasn’t too draining… that was a scream. Sweetly considerate if it was genuine. But a howling hoot if it was a friendly facetious jab.
Great point about differentiating junk and authentic correspondence. I recently went on a big unsubscribe mission that has helped a little with keeping the junk from coming in (why does every company you buy something from even once, send you 5 emails a day?). For work email I do sometimes just do a sweep and delete all the daily digest type informational things. And the ps was definitely genuine, but also made me laugh-- so maybe a little bit of both. I'm quite grateful for an amazing group of students!
Oh, I could so relate to this! I've completely given up on email, and mostly work to catch all the valuable emails among the dust and ads. I've read about tracking time before, but your energy graph is fascinating; I think I'll try that myself, too. Thank you for the idea! And the comments below were helpful, too; so many good ideas. I think you hit a nerve. :)
I'm glad the energy tracking resonated! It's one of my favorite exercises in this class. It can be really interesting to see patterns-- like are you doing a bunch of energy draining things all at the same time or if you do it over a few days are there things that feel more draining at certain time a day. And yes, there is SO much dust in my inbox sometimes (love this description).
I love this essay, Mary Chris! I never thought to map out a day to see what parts or projects drain my energy and what nourish my energy. Instituting "office hours" is brilliant. I think that almost everyone feels like they're constantly behind in some way, and it can be daunting! Especially when comparing ourselves to others and how their lives "seem" to look. And on a side note: I admittedly love watching Emily in Paris (the first season was kind of bad, but the second season was so good).
Agreed! I do think we all feel constantly behind in some way. I'm really loving the take on this in Four Thousand Weeks -- the idea that we just have to get okay with somethings not getting done (which I know is so easy to read about and hard to implement- but I feel like I'm ready to try). On the Emily in Paris note-- completely agree. Especially the first couple episodes I really wasn't sure, but the second season was much better. And it's honestly just pretty-- the clothes. Paris. It feels like a nice escape for a bit.
It used to be I kept email shut, and then only opened it after 1PM. I got out of that habit, and opening it first thing is a major day-derailing moment. This was a good reminder to go back to my 1PM bit. I'm in EST which means for about half the country my answer is coming in the morning. (And what am I doing but responding to your email at 9:34AM. Tomorrow, honey, tomorrow…)
Yes! I try really hard to not look at social media until after lunch (one of the guardrails I mention here that I got from Digital Minimalism). I can totally tell a difference in focus when I'm sticking to that versus not. I love that you do this with email. (And yes, tomorrow . . .! )
Loved the radical honesty of the awkward double sided message- email me, but don’t. Was thinking it also could've be a fine segue to differentiating between junk email and authentic correspondence. And the ps response hoping his/her email wasn’t too draining… that was a scream. Sweetly considerate if it was genuine. But a howling hoot if it was a friendly facetious jab.
Great point about differentiating junk and authentic correspondence. I recently went on a big unsubscribe mission that has helped a little with keeping the junk from coming in (why does every company you buy something from even once, send you 5 emails a day?). For work email I do sometimes just do a sweep and delete all the daily digest type informational things. And the ps was definitely genuine, but also made me laugh-- so maybe a little bit of both. I'm quite grateful for an amazing group of students!