Disconnected – Channels Of Communication
A few weeks ago I started feeling a little over whelmed by the volume of interest in what I was up to. After reading a chapter from Tim Ferris’ book, I decided to disconnect. It was the most effective advice I could have ever received. I went cold turkey. I turned off my phone and put it in a drawer. I completely stopped checking my email, and wouldn’t allow myself to “surf” the net.
The result after a couple of weeks, I feel liberated… and refreshed!
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The 4-Hour work Week: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich by Timothy Ferris </p> Read more about this book…</td> </tr> </tbody> </table>
The first couple of days were hard, I had the itch. I kept wondering… "what if an emergency happens and someone needs to get a hold of me?" There was no emergency, and the best part no shackles. When I finally checked my email, I spent 5 minutes scanning the email that seemed to contain "information" that was important to me. It was amazing how much "noise" I was able to filter out. This is something that Tim describes as a "Low Information Diet." I’m toying with the idea of completely disconnecting my phone and I’m currently checking my email once a week (Mondays). I looked back at a post that made remarkable difference to me when I first read it last year. It was JP’s tips on becoming a more effective developer. In it he told us to limit the amount of instant messaging that we do during the day. Today I feel that instant messaging has been replaced by mailing lists, twitter, texting and RSS feeds. All of this can consume a good portion of your day, and for me causes me to lose focus, quickly. It’s important to be selective about what information is important to keep you focused and to filter out what can wait. I’m not saying this is for everyone, but the Low Information Diet is working for me, and my daughter is loving the extra focused attention she gets from her daddy (likewise for her daddy). |