Smith Family Weblog

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…