You and your computer hack: Morning and Evening Email

So... probably the biggest area of contention between my wife and me is the computer. My time on the computer, to be more precise. My prodigious, profligate, outrageous time on the computer to be exact.

I'm going to be doing some thinking about how to tame the beast... and here's one I've been formulating as a personal rule regarding email-

Avoid checking "work" email first thing in the morning and last thing at night.

1st thing in the morning is bad enough (something about priorities and hearing from God before I hear from a lot of other sources, you know? At least for me...)

But particularly bad is the last-minute-just-before-you-go-to-bed email check. Why?

There's nothing you can do with the information you will receive but stew on it, so you might as well wait.
If it's good news, great... it will be wonderful to read it when you start your work the next day. If it's bad news? Hello sleeplessness. Getting your mind working just before you attempt to go to sleep is, let's just say, counterproductive.

Particularly dangerous is the Saturday evening email check.
Don't do it!

I'm almost guaranteed to get a heart breaking or infuriating or puzzling email on Saturday evening. Yup- pretty much every week.
And my head needs to be somewhere else Saturday night and Sunday morning.
Oh yeah- Sunday morning. Unless it's from your worship pastor or Children's ministry person, or someone else with some last minute important info for the morning, for pete's sake, don't read it.

Sunday afternoon, or better yet Monday (or Tuesday) morning will be just fine.

I used to think that if the phone rang, I was required to answer it. It took me awhile to get over that. Now I'm realizing I feel the same way about email.

Gotta control it so it doesn't control me.

'nuff said.

Comments

[Chris Marsden]

I currently have all my email filter to one main address. I am planning on splitting this to two or three different addresses for just this reason. A quick email check turns into a few quick replies or unwanted/unneeded stress. I've been an email junkie for a long time and need to take control (one of the many reasons I am not even considering getting a blackberry).

[Jon Swanson]

Absolutely true. Saturday night, the night before a major holiday, the last half-hour of a day when I am committed to getting home on time, the week before our senior pastor is headed to a major preaching series, .....