I think my email in box is quickly becoming the bathroom scale of my office.
My scale holds an inordinate amount of power—almost every morning, it tells me how to feel about myself. It dictates what I wear and what I eat and even sometimes how I act. The number on the digital screen appears for only a split-second, yet–positive or negative—it stays with me throughout the day.
I’ve noticed that there’s another number in my life with the near same effect: the number of messages in my email in box—my “needs response” file, if you will. If it’s high, I feel completely overwhelmed in all aspects of my work. If it dips below 30, I am victorious—a “can do” attitude emerges and my productivity soars.
It’s just a number, right? It really shouldn’t matter. Yet, it does.
At least my in box rarely goes over 150. If only that were the case for my scale…
Smith Family Weblog 
Posted by Jessica on May 1, 2008 at 3:51 pm
Oh Rebecca you are my insanity soul mate! I weigh myself every day. I have been known to kick the scale on numerous occasions when (like Bridget Jones) I think a fat capsule is slowly being released under my skin. To Quote: Why? From where??
My inbox rule is, if I have to use the scroll bar to see additional e-mails I get very upset. I can have 41 before the scroll bar starts. The funny thing about your post is I feel the very same way. If I get above 41 I get very agitated and feel stressed out. I know people that don’t like to have more than 10 emails and I think, man, they are really crazy!
I wish I could say my inbox rarely gets over 150 but unfortunately it’s a weekly occurance.
As for my scale, it pretty much just says TILT.
Posted by Katie on May 1, 2008 at 5:45 pm
The guy who is currently in the position that I am transitioning into doesn’t leave for the day until his inbox is down to 20 or fewer e-mails. I have a feeling that our staff is going to be mighty disappointed when they realize that I don’t have the same policy.
My issue is my to-do list. No, not the length of the list. Rather, the format of the list. I can’t figure it out. Do I prefer a paper list that I generally can’t find on my desk by 10am? An electronic list through Outlook that annoyingly reminds me every five minutes that there is something else I should be doing or that “Follow up with Donor X” was supposed to happen four weeks ago or that “Event Y” is only two short days away? An electronic list through Word that doesn’t do anything fancy or one through Excel that might allow me to waste away the day attempting to sort by various columns in an effort to determine the next most important task? I’ve tried everything…including the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People’s suggestion of the Urgent/Important matrix. It is not a habit, and therefore, I don’t feel effective.
And don’t even get me started on the scale…
Posted by smithfamilyweblog on May 2, 2008 at 11:12 am
It’s nice to know I’m not the only one bringing the crazy.