Once upon a time, email was something I’d do at the weekend. Mailing friends, checking for mails from friends etc. Gradually when work and personal email merged into the one account I found myself reading and writing work-related mails. It just happened, part of the technological revolution that allows me to check my email in the minutes close to waking and sleeping.
When I edited the Jobs & Careers supplement in the Irish Independent in 2006 I commissioned colleague John Kennedy of SiliconRepublic to write a cover story on the CrackBerry addict. It was a corporate influenza, whereby executives reportedly couldn’t go long without checkong into their work email accounts via their BlackBerrys, one of the original smart phones.
Now, more than 3 years later, I find myself addicted to checking mail.
What I realised though is that with Facebook I can keep in touch with friends without going near an email account.
I’m not afraid of hard work and have been known to work weekends, late hours or early mornings on jobs. If a client wants or expects me to work on something outside of my core working hours of 8-6.30 Monday to Friday, then I will be available for them. But apart from that I need time out of work, so that I am rejuvenated enough for work.
You know they say the worst thing about leaving your mobile phone at home is to arrive home at the end of the day and find nobody has called or texted you. I’m expecting the same first thing Monday morn when I fire up my PC at work – I will have missed no email of consequence.
Categories: Productivity