Phone vs. Email
A guest post by Taylor Buzzard:I have a trivia question for you.What surprisingly requires all of the following, simultaneously:Left hand.Right hand.Left eye.Right eye.Brain.Physical body orientation.?EMAIL. Email requires all of the above, all at the same time. And that is why email has become a thorn in my flesh. Email asks too much of me.I used to love email. I thought it was fun, a convenient way to plan and touch base with people, a vehicle for being witty and silly with friends, and a way to be creative with writing. But, as of 3 months ago, I now have two young children. And, as of 3 months ago, email demands more than I can give. The inbox piles up higher and higher, and my stress mounts higher and higher. Even as I write about this topic, my heartbeat is accelerating. I just can't get my email under control.The phone is much better suited to my lifestyle these days. It allows me to communicate with someone, while still looking at my children, physically interacting with them, and turning my body towards them. Email is like a dark cave that requires me to dive in, whereas the telephone allows me to stay at sea level and multitask. Have you ever noticed that one email topic requires at least 3-4 emails in order to close the issue at hand?Here's an example:Email #1: Do you want to meet up for coffee sometime this week?Email #2: Sure. I'm free on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings.Email #3: Oh, bummer, I'm busy those nights. How about Friday morning?Email #4: Sounds great. Want to meet at Peet's at 9 am?Email #5: You're on. See you there.Email #6: Alright. See you Friday morning.I don't think I exaggerated while writing this out. Six emails for a coffee date. A one-minute phone call could have taken care of all of that.So, what to do, what to do? I can't close my email account and call it quits. Email is a component of our modern life, and it would be unwise to pull the plug. I'm looking for ways to live with it without letting it weigh me down. One suggestion I've received is to create 3-4 folders where I immediately file every incoming email (To Read, To Answer, Pending, etc.). That way the inbox is always orderly. I'm going to start with this tactic. And if this doesn't relieve my email stress, I think I will take more serious action and move to the second suggestion I received: to create an auto-reply message that states that I check email on days x, y, and z, and if a response is needed sooner, to please call me.Email, email, I used to love you so.Email, email, now I long to let you go.Email, email, let's try to make this work.Email, email, before I go berserk.