Unless you are on a project that REQUIRES your digital availability tomorrow or Sunday, blow off email.
It can wait until Monday.
Turn the black berry off, power it down completely.
Let the laptop sit in your briedcase, unopened.
If you fully commit your off time to being off, you’ll find more energy on Monday — and everybody will get more quality and quantity from you too.
Research suggests that as a society (especially web surfers) we are obsessive compulsive about our emails. We check them dozens of time a day, even on weekends. We check our blackberry’s in the middle of Sunday dinner. We sneak off from precious family moments to launch Outlook and grave on noise.
If you don’t believe me, go ahead and check your email tomorrow and Sunday for that matter. Except, on piece of paper by your computer, make a tick mark every time your check your email. You will be amazed at how many ticks you’ll come up with on your “off time”.
Weekends are for a rest in the chatter. Family time. Rehab. Don’t worry about an email, they have your phone, they’ll call if its an emergency. What you will do, if you turn if off this weekend, is start to retrain people on how you want to be treated. Retrain them to understand that you are off, and that if it’s important — they should call your cell.
Think of this short missive as my first installment in a series of posts about boosting your “digital intelligence”.
Lesson One: Turn off when you are off.
Have a good (and mentally restful) weekend.
