Jun 24 08
Confessions of the 24/7 Mind
By Renn Vara
I love email. I really love instant messaging. I haven’t gotten into Twitter yet. Nor have I bought into Facebook or MySpace. Not sure why. I’ve even fallen out of love with my cell phone, the audio part, but that could change when I purchase the latest iPhone G3 next month. In truth, I love being on all the time. When I get email from my team and/or customers late at night or early in the morning, I feel this weird joy at knowing someone is alive, thinking, active, working, and doing something.
Now before you totally write me off as some Millennial nut, let me clear up the possible misperception. I’m 50+ years old with two college kids, married with a life of sorts, and as active as can be for a balding, slightly pudgy suburban male. I love keeping up with news, cable and radio, often having both on at the same time. My weekly reading includes Rolling Stone, National Geographic, Entertainment (Stephen King’s back page column should not be missed), Time, Newsweek, US News, even Readers Digest. Oh and my favorite is the New York Review of Books and Vanity Fair when I’m flying around. Be sure to check out the latest with the story on Bobby Kennedy.
I’m not a big online reader but do use Google Alerts for stories and blogs of interest. I also benefit from a few online friends who keep me informed on everything from politics to YouTube videos.
So back to the 24/7 mind. I need to clear up my bias. I’m not a big fan of compartmentalized people. You know, those folks who go off line after 6p and on the weekends. I get it and work at not being too judgmental. A daily challenge.
So here is my 10 step plan for a happy and fulfilled 24/7 life:
- Go with it. Don’t fight it.
- Instead of thinking it’s work, look at it like breathing.
- Do a little every day, all day.
- Respond immediately to email. Keep it short and to the point.
- If something requires depth of thought or lengthy work, set expectations and schedule it. But respond immediately.
- Don’t get on the cell phone. Keep yourself connected via email/IM only.
- Have fun with it and stop being such a complaining wimp.
- And know it’s not going to change until you die. So get used to it.
- Or quit.
- Or move into the wilderness and eat pine nuts.
I hope this helps. Did I tell you how much I love being ‘on’ all the time?
I would tend to agree that being on all the time isn’t that big of a deal, but you do have to shut it down once in awhile. Your notion of “joy” at seeing an email from one of your employees late night is downright despotic. And how do you feel if it’s a leisurely Saturday afternoon and you get an irritating work related email that could have easily waited until Monday? By the way, your Open 24 hours photo looks like its from an adult shop.
It is. You have a problem with adult shops? That aside, Sat. business emails bring me even more joy. Keep them coming.
and never go on vacation
I think it’s almost a sickness for me. However, as a “Millennial Nut” I’ve known no other way of working. Now (since I am the classic Millennial), I’m living at home with my parents (eek) I hear my 17 year old brother tapping away at his Blackberry. Presumably he’ll be even more connected all of the time than I am - wonder what that world will be like? Perhaps the perfect Renn world of 24/7 connectivity.
When I first saw television commercials showing people getting phone calls on the golf course a little piece of me died. Since then our communication expectations have grown to the point that we seek immediate responses at all times based on unlimited connectivity. While my personal preference is heavily biased towards the wilderness and pine nuts solution, my guess is that it all depends on whether you live to work or work to live.
A 50+ addict to e-mail once told me that in business, “You learn to be efficient”.
And being efficient in today’s world is to be on 24/7. Things happen so fast that turning away from your e-mail or phone could be detrimental. I would take it one step further and say that you no longer have a choice to turn off your phone/e-mail.
The standard has been set - when an -email is sent to you, the sender (boss, co worker, etc.) expects you to respond.
How many times have you heard someone say, “Well, I sent her an e-mail this weekend abou it….”. You can blame people like the aforementioned 24/7 Mind for keeping us up with them.
The only silver lining is that the current condition makes it even more important that you enjoy what you do - because you’ll be doing it ALL THE TIME.