Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Lower Stress, Simplify Life, Get Something Done: Turn Off Email

Life is filled with stress. Constant demands and nonstop interruptions cause stress to build until life twists into a swirl of nonproductive and unfinished work. One of the most disruptive tools in the office and daily life is email.

Stress is a cancer that eats you from the inside out. The best way to lower stress is to finish projects or at least make serious progress every day. The way to get good work done each and every day is to eliminate interruptions during work time. Three to four hours of quiet time a day allows you to accomplish more than 98% of people in a day.

The only way to get this uninterrupted quiet time is to turn off all electronics, especially email. Nothing disrupts concentration and a good work habit than email. Cell phones, iPods, and similar devices come in a close second.

If you want a happier, less stressful, more productive, fulfilling life, turn off the cell phone and email. Any electronic that barges in and demands your immediate attention rapes you of your life. It could even cost you your job.

I turn off my email for several hours each day. I need the block of time to get work done. If I don't respond instantly to an email, I am not ignoring you, I am getting work done. You should try it. The stress reduction alone is worth it.

In an always on, always demanding world, something that simplifies life is worth its weight in gold. By lowering your stress your medical costs could go down and you could live longer. Regardless, your life will be more worth living.

This rat is out of the race, yet still in the game. How about you.

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2 comments:

  1. I've always been an advocate of do-it-yourself stress reduction approaches such as meditation, exercise, etc. If you find a repetitive activity - such as a word, a prayer, a phrase, a visual scene, the breath, etc - that you can find a sense of deep, loving absorption in, use that as an object of focus. Then, fall in love with it. Stress reduction is easy when you find a meditation object that you are compatible with. Also, try to slip in meditative and grounding activities whenever you can, even for 30 seconds. It works like magic.

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  2. Find what works for you and stick to it. You make good points, Tom. Thank you for the comment.

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