Drawing Digital Boundaries in an Always-On World

If you’re like most people, you’ve responded to work email while on the grocery check-out line, on vacation, and in bed. Increasingly we are always at work unless we make a conscious decision not to be. As a workflow coach to busy professionals, I get to see both the benefits and challenges of our ever-shrinking, instantly-syncing and always-buzzing technology.  The plus is that we can work from anywhere, anytime; the drawback comes when we are working everywhere, all the time.

The truth is that your inbox will still be accepting emails when you die. Will you choose to live in your inbox 24/7, or will you step away from time to time and be present in the messy, physical, relational world?

We have to get really good at choosing when we’re working and when we’re not. The radical act of unplugging – of intentionally turning off our devices for a few hours, days or even weeks – can have profound effects:

• Coworkers will see that you place boundaries on your time and adjust accordingly.  By not responding to work emails after a certain time of night, on the weekends, or on vacation, you signal that you respect your own time and that of your colleagues.

• Loved ones will appreciate your undivided attention. A dinner without text messaging and a day outside without email will not go unnoticed.

• You will grow to enjoy the alertness, calm, and productivity that comes from focusing on the present moment without attending to a blinking device.

If turning off your devices for even an hour seems like an impossible feat, here are some questions to get you thinking:

• What parts of your life could you experience more fully if you were to unplug?  What are the consequences if you don’t unplug?

• What one technology habit, if you changed it, would make the biggest positive impact on your life?

• Where in your day, week, or year, is it most important to you to you carve out time to disconnect from technology?

No one else will draw these boundaries for you.  The only person who can stop you from answering email 24/7 is you.  So, where will you draw the line?

Perfectionism and the 90% Solution

Perfectionism is a common psychological obstacle to productivity.  In the perfectionist's mind, the product, email, report, etc. she is trying to produce is not quite good enough just yet.  The perfectionist has a sense that her ideal is attainable, if only through more work.  Making things worse, she likely believes the sky will fall if she is not successful at attaining perfection.

The problem is that somewhere along the pursuit for 100% perfection, we face diminishing returns.  We wait to send an email until we get the wording right, and an opportunity passes us by.  While we're stalling on completing a project to our own exacting standards, our boss or funder is wondering where it is.  And when we ask our staff member for the fourth revision on that fundraising letter, we can see their morale take a dive.

When I see perfectionism of any sort cropping up in myself or in a client, I've begun to ask:

[box] What would 90% look like?

Are you at 90% good enough/complete enough?

If yes - you are done.

If no - strive to get to 90%.  [/box]

For most of us, doing a 90% job is good enough - great, in fact.  (I admit for some , it may not be good enough -- I have had surgeons as clients.  But for most 90% is just fine.)  Further, a conscientious perfectionist's 90% may be 100% acceptable or even outstanding to her colleagues and supervisor.

Give it a try: let go of the 10% that exists between what you must do and how perfectly you imagine it can be done.  Then look around and see if the sky is falling.

Workshop: Create the Work Life You Want

I am really thrilled to announce Create The Work Life You Want, a workshop for entrepreneurs I'm co-leading in NYC on December 16th January 27th.  This workshop is the product of months of inspired collaboration with Liz Dahmen of Make Space. Below is the workshop description, and you can register online here. Please spread the word!

[box] Create the Work Life You Want invites you to discover how to manage your time and workspace in service to your unique entrepreneurial vision.

Over the course of this 4-hour workshop, you will assess your current time management practices & workspace set-up, explore strategies for improvement, and craft an action plan for change.

This workshop is for you if you:

• Are an entrepreneur, freelancer, independent worker, or otherwise work for yourself
• Are overwhelmed by your to-do list, email inbox, messy desk, or just how much you have to do
• Want to find better systems & strategies for organizing your time and your workspace

This workshop, the first in a developing series, is being offered for the introductory price of $55.[/box]

7 Strategies for Less Stressful Work Travel

A busy work travel schedule can throw even the most balanced of us out of whack.  Forget jet-lag -- just being away from the office, our families and our own beds can be seriously disorienting. And then when we return, we face an avalanche of work left behind.  Good news: you can take action to prevent travel hell before you even leave for the airport. Here's how you can set yourself up to take a more sane, less disruptive work trip:

1.  Schedule smartly It can be tempting to book yourself solid while you're on the road.  Don't do this.  Leave yourself some breathing room to take care of business (answering emails, returning calls, etc.) back on the homefront during your away-workday.  A solid hour a day of attention devoted to your home-work will make life a lot easier when you return.

2.  Plan for recovery Schedule your post-trip recovery time ahead of time.  Depending on the length of your trip and what happens at home while you're gone, you'll likely need some time to process all the new information you got while you were away and catch up on what you missed.  Block off between a couple hours a full day within the first couple days of your return.

3.  Manage expectations Let key colleagues know you'll be on the road and less available than usual.  Set your "out of office" message on email to say that you will return emails on the day AFTER you return to the office, not the day-of, to give yourself a little breathing room.

4.  Pack healthy snacks Between the airport food court and the conference buffet, it can be hard to eat well on the road.  Play defense against Danishes by packing portable and healthy alternatives like instant oatmeal, almonds, dried fruit, and energy bars.

5.  Plan to maintain healthy rituals If you exercise regularly at home, research the hotel's gym situation (or load up some fitness podcasts) and bring your workout clothes so you can exercise while you're away.  If you enjoy a cup of herbal tea before bed at home, make sure you bring your stash for your hotel room.

6.  Research the sights Plan to allow yourself at least half a day to be a tourist, wherever you are.  After all, you haven't really been to Georgia unless you've seen the world's largest peanut, right?

7.  Get clear about why you're traveling Like, really clear.  Why are you taking this trip anyway?  And how will you know if you & your organization have gotten your money's worth?  Before you go anywhere, make sure that you know the purpose, outcomes, and process of your trip.  Let this guide your decisions about how you focus your time and attention while you're gone.

What do you do to make travel less of an ordeal?  Share your tips in the comments.

Jim Henson's Kooky Take on Time

Last week I went on a Freelancer Field Trip to check out the Jim Henson exhibit at the Museum of the Moving Image.  While there was plenty of Henson's inspiring puppetry (to say nothing of the myriad other attractions at this fantastic museum), the thing that stood out for me was Henson's 1965 experimental short film, Time Piece. In 9 frenetic minutes, this The Academy Award-nominated short tells the story of the everyman who juggles work and family, bounds between sickness and health, and wrestles with desire and obligation.  All the while, clocks tick and a relentless staccato beat marks the passage of time.  Our protagonist is constantly on the run, but never seems to get anywhere.

I couldn't help but think of this as a slightly kooky window into the work that I do with busy professionals who are trying to lead, love and live the best they can with the time they are given.  There is something timeless about this struggle.

For your amusement, and without further adieu, I give you Jim Henson's 1965 Time Piece:

(Note:  I would rate this film about a PG-13 for some tame-ish burlesque dancing... so keep that in mind if you are watching this in a shared office space.)

Can't see the video above?  Watch it here.