The evening scan suggestion is underrated, and I'd go further. The five minutes you spend at the end of the day making a plan for what arrived is about drawing a line between work and not-work, which most people have completely lost. The inbox doesn't stay at the office anymore. It comes home, sits at dinner, gets into bed with you. The scan is less a productivity tool and more a boundary ritual. You're telling your brain the workday is actually over.
It's definitely that point about telling your brain the work day is over. What I'm yet to discover is a concrete way to deal with employers who think it's ok to continue to email after hours and expect a response before the start of the next work day - for their employees it must feel like the work day's never over!
It's nice to see you back, did you have a good break?
In the places where I work, we go the extra mile to reiterate to employees that they need to find balance, and we begin that work during onboarding sessions. In most organizations, the first few weeks of a new employee’s experience are usually filled with turmoil and overtime. We purposely log them off at 2 p.m. during those first few weeks of training. Most employers miss a huge opportunity to set a precedent during onboarding.
I did - It is just what I needed to take me through the year. A 10/10 vacation.
Spent an hour or two yesterday clearing a couple of email boxes - there were the usual suspects of nice emails that sit there to cheer me up - archive them - those that were reminders to do things - do them - the endless notifications - delete - and the email threads that somehow take up the most space - delete
A couple of hours well spent. I would definitely count it as productive as you'll save time and energy in the future not continuously reviewing the inbox items you've reviewed several times before!
The evening scan suggestion is underrated, and I'd go further. The five minutes you spend at the end of the day making a plan for what arrived is about drawing a line between work and not-work, which most people have completely lost. The inbox doesn't stay at the office anymore. It comes home, sits at dinner, gets into bed with you. The scan is less a productivity tool and more a boundary ritual. You're telling your brain the workday is actually over.
What's up, Tina?
How are you doing?
It's definitely that point about telling your brain the work day is over. What I'm yet to discover is a concrete way to deal with employers who think it's ok to continue to email after hours and expect a response before the start of the next work day - for their employees it must feel like the work day's never over!
It's nice to see you back, did you have a good break?
Hey Tina -
In the places where I work, we go the extra mile to reiterate to employees that they need to find balance, and we begin that work during onboarding sessions. In most organizations, the first few weeks of a new employee’s experience are usually filled with turmoil and overtime. We purposely log them off at 2 p.m. during those first few weeks of training. Most employers miss a huge opportunity to set a precedent during onboarding.
I did - It is just what I needed to take me through the year. A 10/10 vacation.
I wish I heard this more often - it's definitely a culture thing and I'm so pleased you work in such an environment.
Perhaps I should be looking at Trinidad for a holiday!
It is absolutely a culture thing.
Trinidad is beautiful, but admittedly, Carnival is the safest time to visit.
Lots of tourists, which means lots of security and police.
I’ll write more about this next week.
I look forward to hearing more about it, and thanks for the hint about when to travel.
Spent an hour or two yesterday clearing a couple of email boxes - there were the usual suspects of nice emails that sit there to cheer me up - archive them - those that were reminders to do things - do them - the endless notifications - delete - and the email threads that somehow take up the most space - delete
It almost feels like productivity cleaning it up
A couple of hours well spent. I would definitely count it as productive as you'll save time and energy in the future not continuously reviewing the inbox items you've reviewed several times before!