This weekend I did something that many people cannot do. I turned off my work email so that I wouldn’t be distracted from my time with my family and friends.
I say that many people cannot do that, although I don’t mean that most of us are prohibited from shutting off their email. What I mean is that apparently, like any addiction or compulsion, they are unable to turn it off.
Saturday, Sunday, Thanksgiving, Christmas, evenings, early mornings, family dinners and during your child’s basketball game; Email has become a leash that you are invisibly tied to and that keeps you from being fully engaged in reality and what is happening right in front of you.
Turn it off on occasion. Open up your phone or ipad device, go into the control panel and just click “off” next to “mail”. (That way when you look at it you won’t see all those emails sitting there screaming at you to answer)
It’s important to note that my job requires me to be on call and available 24/7, yet this doesn’t mean that I have to be responding at a moments notice to anything anyone anywhere things might need to be in my inbox.
It will add peace of mind, help you to be more engaged and a better spouse, parent, and friend. It will also help you be more engaged when you return to work. Ready to start your week and your day with energy.
What are the barriers to you turning off you email for the weekend? Are you planning on checking your email on Christmas weekend? If so, why?
David Curry
