Hey Time Dorks,
With the holidays ahead, it’s a great moment to take time off and recharge. However, it can be hard to protect that time and to fully disconnect.
This week, we’ll explore the benefits of going off the grid, declaring email bankruptcy, and the power of unplugging.
🏃♂️Something to Try
It’s a sunny afternoon in Maui.
You’re chilling on the beach sipping fresh coconut water when – buzzz.
It’s your boss. “Sorry to bother you. I know you’re on vacation, but we need you to do something real quick. It will only take a minute. Thanks!”
All of a sudden, your mind is back in work mode, and even that small interruption can make it harder to get back to relaxing and enjoying the true benefits of time off
This happened to me so many times earlier in my career while on vacation, until I finally had a manager who showed me it’s possible to have a different default. They set up a simple, automated response that read something like this:
And guess what? They meant it.
I had tried to not check email on vacation before, but seeing a leader I admired actually stick to it not only inspired me, it created a different default within our team.
From there on out, I made a commitment to vacation with (a) no email on my phone and (b) no laptop. Let me tell you, it is absolute heaven.
And you can do the same!
The next time you’re on vacation, BE on vacation, just like we recommend in Tactic #41: Vacation Off the Grid.
Trust us. Work can wait until you’re back. And when you are back, you’ll be refreshed and ready to focus.
🤖 Tech & Tools
If you want to supercharge the tactic above, consider this: it might be time to declare email bankruptcy.
When I worked at Google, I received so many emails it was impossible to stay caught up. Status updates, internal newsletters, email chains with dozens (if not hundreds) of people on CC.
The truth is, most of these messages were not that important. Yet they clogged up my inbox and left me with a constant sense of being behind.
I started using an email autoresponder over the December break to declare email bankruptcy so that I could come back from vacation with a totally clean slate.
Here’s what I wrote, feel free to copy it and edit it for your own purpose:
Subject: OOO Until Jan 5 & Archiving All Emails Upon My Return
Hi there!
Thanks for your message.
I’m OOO until Jan 5th and will be archiving my entire inbox when I return.
If you read this and you need me to reply to your message, please schedule the email to be delivered on January 6th or anytime thereafter.
It’s nothing personal! My intention is to start the year fresh with a clean inbox and clear head.
Thanks for your understanding!
Connor
P.S. If you feel like declaring email bankruptcy yourself, feel free to copy this auto-responder 🙂
—
📚 Timely Quotes
“Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.”
― Anne Lammot (Author)
Thanks for reading, see you next week!
Connor
