Do you ever have days where you have SOOOOO much to do that you just don’t know where to start? You get that Bunny in the headlights look on your face....?
I think I'm having one of those years. Normally I am Miss. Hyper-super-efficient at work. I write lists. I clear stuff off my list. Nice big ticks. I try and avoid my email - only respond for an hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon - I figure if it’s important and the house is burning down they'll call me. I try not to schedule meetings for more than an hour - difficult where I work at the best of times. I try and do all the right things to make sure that I have enough time, energy and head space to be able to get through my stuff - my job is *slightly* visible after all :)
But sometimes all of those little tips and techniques just don’t cut it. It feels like one step forward and 48 steps back. It’s usually at times like this that I lose perspective on everything. I panic. I flap. I go quiet. I huff and puff a lot. I teeter on the edge of getting ratty with people because they want to *chat*...
It makes me question why I react so badly to stress. Is it because I am so obsessed with my job that I have to be seen to be perfect at all times? Is it because I feel that anyone that wants to chat to me (heaven forbid) has no consideration for my boundaries? Is it because I feel like I am totally out of control?
It’s a little bit of each of those things really.
Years ago someone (I think it was my ex - bless him - he did have a use) pointed out to me that even when you die your inbox will keep filling up - it’s never ever going to be empty. That depressed the buggery out of me at the time - however a little distance gave me some perspective - you know what? It’s true. I suppose it comes back to the control thing again - it’s human nature to want to control stuff. That bit comes naturally. What doesn’t come naturally - at least for me - is comprehending that sometimes I am just along for the ride - I am a passenger and should just buckle up - I can’t control everything. That I should just relax, chill out and go with the flow a bit more.
My inbox is a bit like my life really.....
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At the risk of just bringing up another 'organisational self-help tip', I had an epiphany moment some years back when I had a massive purge of the unruly inbox using the 'if it's important they'll re-send' logic. Since then my rule is to get the inbox down to having no scrollbar before I go home (getting a bigger monitor helps). My thinking: I can't control everything, but controlling the inbox makes me sleep better at night :o)
ReplyDelete(Setting up folders and filters for cc and group emails helps hugely too)
Oh, and you know full well that Smileys Need Noses :o)
^^ christ I sound boring.
ReplyDeleteNo RT - you sound NO scroll bar is good. Alternatively - try something radical - delete everything you are cc'd on. It works. nTrust me. I've tried it. People get upset and then learn *very* quickly that if they want you to do something that they need to ask you!
ReplyDelete