The tyrant ruining my life.
It’s ruining yours too.
In my life, there is a force that has worked its way into my living room. It’s in my pocket, it’s in the kitchen, and next to my bed at night. It’s demanding my attention at all hours of the day, sucking every last bit of energy from my being. It saps my brain power and distracts me from doing my best work. It keeps me hanging just enough to get a rush every few minutes, but not enough to truly satisfy my needs or quench my thirst. It breaks up relationships and makes me look like a half-ass mother and wife.
This tyrant is slowly ruining my life. And I bet it’s ruining your as well.
The name of this tyrant is . . . Email
Designed as a quick and easy way to communicate, email has grown into a demanding beast that asks us to stay connected at all times, regardless of the cost.
How many times have I raced over to my phone to see what message I needed to respond to, only to find that Bath and Body Works wanted to remind me, yet again, that their antibacterial lotion was on sale (again).
I apologize to my husband and kids. My eight-year-old son can’t seem to understand what’s so important that I have to leave our game of cards to see why my phone “dinged.” Yes, I admit. I stepped away from my family, and over to my phone to make sure the world didn’t spin off its axis (which, after watching this video from HowStuffWorks does freak me out just a bit).
Ridiculous? Not really.
We act as if we hold the keys……the keys to what, I’m not sure. The world going round? Life moving as it should? Yet, few of us really live in a world where a missed email means the difference between life and death. In fact, I would argue that none of us live in this world because truly urgent matters still push us to make a call rather than an email.
Email, like a continuous dose of heroin, has a slow and steady method of working its way into your bloodstream. The “ping” or vibration of your smart phone every couple minutes sends a panic attack to your fingers, begging you to swipe your phone and open the application. Upworthy.com shared a video a while back — you won’t believe the effects the Internet is having on your brain. Crazy stuff.
It’s time to fire this tyrant.
But he won’t go down easy. So here’s what I’m going to do.
Stop responding to messages after 6:00 p.m. If I’m still working later, I shouldn’t make others feel like a slacker because they don’t put in the long hours like I do (which I need to address at a later time!).
Give people my respect and full attention by leaving my phone out of meetings. Utilize out of office replies if needed for long meetings. Provide a work number where they can reach me if they have an emergency question or concern.
Stop emailing others without thinking through the purpose of my message first. If I expect to get better at managing the tyrant that’s taking over my life, I shouldn’t impose ridiculous email loads on others.
Don’t email when I can call or talk in person. Life is meant to be shared with others, and communication is a privilege that allows me to build relationships. After all, 80% of communication is non-verbal.
On your marks, get set, go!
I’m ready to kick the email tyrant out of my life and being experiencing intense creativity, strengthened relationships, and higher levels of success!
Or at least that’s what I hope I get. I don’t know yet.
