Tech Life Balance

Inbox Zero - a week later

I love Inbox Zero.  Elation is the only work that I think I can use that comes close to describing the feeling of seeing my inbox totally empty.   Two weekends ago, I posted "my own personal failblog" from a fog of feeling overwhelmed and tired.  Last weekend, I took the bull by the horns and spend two days ruthlessly clearing my inbox.  I started Saturday morning around 7:30 and Sunday afternoon around 4:30, I hit inbox zero.   Disclaimer - I slept, ate, did laundry, and located a roll of masking tape my husband needed.

So, a week later, it's Sunday again.  Guess what!  The inbox is still empty.  It has been empty each night for a week.  It can be done.   And, in case you are wondering, I received 396 emails this week.

So, how did I manage that?   Back to David Allen's Getting Things Done and a few simple rules. 

1. Do it now.  Different people use different numbers for how long a "do it now" task is - usually 1-3 mintues.  I don't really put a number on it, just "a few."
2. Stop procrastinating.  I had gotten particularly bad at putting off tasks for all manner of reasons.  I didn't have enough time on had to do it right.  I was stuggling with how to handle that email response.   I needed to write but was having a low-creativity day.  I needed information I didn't have.  I was waiting for someone to be back from vacation.   Now - do it, delegate it or schedule it.
3. No "To Do's" in the inbox.  If it is in the inbox, you have to think about it every time you open the inbox.  If it is a to do, either do it or get it into the tasks list and scheduled do be done. 

So, I've managed a week with these rules helping me to keep an empty inbox.  Its a really nice feeling.  I've actually gotten to the end of my emails and my tasks a couple of times this week and found myself looking forward on my list to see if there's anything I can do in advance.   I'm pretty sure that wasn't possible two weeks ago.  Let's see how long I can keep this thing going. 

 

My Own Personal FailBlog

I'm a fan of failblog and the rest of the cheezburger network.  Sometimes funny pictures of cats really can make your day better.  However, I'm not referring to this failblog, but to this post as being my confession of failing at my blog. 

If you read the previous post, you may notice that I last posted on 6/10/10, just four days short of a FULL YEAR AGO.   Really?   I haven't had anything to say for a FULL YEAR?   For any of you who know me, you know that this is not remotely possible.   Not at all.

What happened a year ago?  I went on a few trips and I got a promotion that added a new department to my area of responsibility.  And I fell off the blog wagon.  About three months after that, I fell off the balance wagon.  I stopped working out consistently.  I stopped being careful about what I ate.  I stopped cooking.  I stopped spreading housework through the week and ended up doing it on weekends.  I stopped stopping at a reasonable time at night, checking email and working into the evening and night.  I stopped staying connected to my personal learning network on Twitter.   You can't write a "tech life balance" blog if you're really lacking in tech life balance, now can you?

So, here's my failblog confession.   I failed to blog and I failed at the purpose of the blog.  I forgive me.

In the words of Thomas Edison,  “I haven't failed, I've found 10,000 ways that don't work."   Maybe I haven't found 10,000 ways that don't work, but I have found a number of things that don't make me feel like I'm as happy and balanced as I want to be.  

Now, I've come back to this blog and to taking time to consider the questions that I designed this blog. 

I just hope I can stay on the wagon this time.