For the past several years (decades actually), I’ve worked diligently at a computer. When not working, I’ve spent a fair amount of time playing online games with family and friends… at the computer.
But even when I’m not working, I have a computer checking email every 2 minutes. Anything I get that’s work related takes priority and I answer promptly. But not yesterday!
I didn’t respond to a work email for 7 hours.
The email wasn’t from a client or prospect, but it was work related just the same. And you know what? The world didn’t end. That delay was nothing in the grand scheme. The rain still fell and spring green got greener…
Y’all probably think I’m crazy and making a big ole’ deal out of nothing at all. But for me, that step was monumental. I’ve been known to conduct business even on vacations (yup — on every single one of them).
And since the earth didn’t implode because I took a long time to respond to an email…
I may do the same thing again today. Heck, I may even take nap lessons from Merida because she’s a pro with a ton of experience and I need a new hobby.
Work life balance is a real thing.
Cultivating work-life balance promotes productivity, reduces stress, and fosters a fulfilling existence. It’s time I pull back from work and add more to the life column. Yesterday was the first step.
Feel free to join me on my journey to life as a bum! 😉
Now you know: The actor who starred in ‘The Great Train Robbery’ — and 70 other movies — retired from the cinema to work as a milkman and later owned a cigar store.
I received a business email yesterday that is still setting in my inbox. I haven’t replied to it yet because doing so wouldn’t have been a great idea. Unless you have better self control than I do, never reply to an email when you’re frustrated.
I typed 3 sentences in reply, then I deleted the email and took a break allowing my mind to wander someplace other than work for just a few moments.
I know I have a sharp tongue.
I know I have a sharp tongue — sometimes on purpose and other times not so much. It’s hard to determine the tone of a sender’s email, and it’s easy to misunderstand the intent. I always try to be careful and consider my words before I hit send. You do the same?
It’s true that less is more.
I could pepper off a scathing email proving the sender wrong (and dumb), but I won’t. I’ll just say “thanks but no thanks” and “much success blah blah blah…“
Now you know: After 10 years together and multiple gold records, when the Beatles broke up in 1970, both Paul & George were only 27 years old.
We had a client cancel a virtual event last February because of something out of their control — and as always, we allowed a reschedule without additional fees so long as it was scheduled before the end of the year. That deadline came and went. When the client asked if it was possible to reschedule now, we could’ve declined.
Being nice in business sometimes transforms into a painful experience.
They had already paid for the service and although outside of the contract, helping them was the right thing to do. I agreed to allow it specifically stating that prep would be minimal as not to incur additional costs and time on our end. Now, their Sr. Director of Human Resources is making me regret the decision.
I understand she’s trying to coordinate details, but her peppering of emails is making me crazy. I’m telling her the same things over and over and over again. For the love of all things holy, take a deep breath. No, we’ve not had time to review the email your CEO sent on Sunday night by 8:00 AM ET on Monday morning — especially not with 3 live events in 3 cities in 7 days. 😵💫
She probably missed a gorgeous sunset in her location so she could micromanage.
I didn’t miss the sunset here…
Pointers for organizers — don’t be annoying:
Before sending an email, make note of everything you want to know and form it into one concise message.
If someone tells you they will reach out if they need to connect, stop asking them constantly to schedule a call.
If you’re told you will receive something from someone on a specific day, don’t ask for it 50 times before the deadline.
Don’t pretend to know more about someone else’s job when they are an expert in their field.
Take a deep breath and relax — if you trust someone enough to pay for their services (or if your superiors did), you should expect them to be competent enough to deliver without your micromanagement.
“Here to help with whatever you need!” — Yes, yes I know. This is email #28 in just a few short days. 🙄
Now you know: While only 8.4% of Americans don’t wear seat belts, about 50% of those killed in car crashes were not buckled.
I can scroll through Facebook in a matter of seconds UNLESS there’s some dog rescue video. That leads to watching some food recipe being prepared and makeover haircut videos that go on and on and on. I even sit with my mouth open and watch those stupid 5-minute craft videos where they make stuff out of toilet paper rolls. Like I want that crap in my house?? NOPE!
The Internet is a time sink!
At some point during the day I hit up either Apple News or Drudge Report. Short and sweet catch-up on what’s going on in the world me thinks. That works UNLESS there’s something that really catches my interest. Once that happens, it’s like dominos with me knocking all the blocks down as I go from one article to the next. If there’s some youtube video on America’s got talent like this one— that can go on a loop for HOURS.
And I haven’t even touched on email. Good grief — oftentimes, I’ll review correspondence with one client for one event to find we’ve racked up 100 back and forth messages. I should get paid by the number of emails I’ve read and responded to and not commission. I’d be RICH!
Of course, the best way not to fall down the same rabbit hole is to not head down the path where it’s located.
With work and email I simply must take that road. When it comes to the other stuff, I have no excuse. Oh, to be more like Dharma… enjoying the sunshine without any knowledge of computers or the Internet…
TIL (Today I Learned): The temperature on the moon at the Apollo 11 landing site was 200ºF.
I’m primarily writing this post because about every other day I open up one of my email programs forgetting what it was I hated about it — only to switch again because I forgot what I hated about the next one.
But before I go into my email woes, I want you guys to see a happy bee (and a photo bombing hound dog):
So here goes…
We are a Mac based G-Suite email office. My greatest struggle is finding an email client I like that serves all my needs. I hope to refer to this so I remember which is the lesser of evils.
Outlook: Contacts do not merge with IOS contacts and no calendar subscriptions… just the Outlook calendar and I don’t need another one to manage.
Airmail: Either 2 sent messages or none are saved on the server and search criteria is poor even after indexing my bajillion messages.
Postbox: No way to set a “timed” reminder. No calendar integration.
Mac Mail: Some clients can’t reply to messages and fonts/sizes vary on what the recipient uses for mail retrieval.
Cloze: AMAZING… but no desktop client. I’m not a fan of webmail.
I could list many, many more — but they are even worse than the 5 above.
What’s a Mac girl to do? Please share any suggestions. 🙂
