April 8, 2018
507 Days
...And just like that it's been 507 days since Sven and I started to live 1/2 a world apart.
Lately: The Psychology of Packing
...is not something I have figured out.
It's silly considering how many times I've done it (about 20x since leaving home at 18). But I just can't seem to make myself pack right now, even though I really want to avoid a fiasco like last time.
So this is how I spent my weekend:
It's silly considering how many times I've done it (about 20x since leaving home at 18). But I just can't seem to make myself pack right now, even though I really want to avoid a fiasco like last time.
So this is how I spent my weekend:
Yep, that's right. I didn't want to pack so badly that I WORKED OUT instead.
April 5, 2018
The 12 stages of inbox acceptance
One of the most difficult things about my new (started a year ago) job has been the massive number of emails. For the last 10 years (ish), I have been a stickler about my work emails - a clean inbox and carefully filed archives. But that's basically impossible at the new job: it's a never-ending onslaught.
A(n almost) year later, this is what I've learned.
Stage 1:
All my friends and new coworkers warned me about the volume and told me my best bet would be extreme prioritization and not doing/seeing/covering everything. But it was the beginning and my optimism ran (too) high.
Stage 2:
A couple months later the job was in full swing and I started to understand what everyone meant.
Stage 3:
DENIAL. This cannot be right.
Stage 4:
Negotiation with email senders to just IM/call/meet/anything instead of email.
Stage 5:
No one listened to my desperate pleas and I am overrun and overwhelmed. And the better I got at my job, the more emails I got. I felt hunted (or maybe haunted).
Stage 6:
It worsened and my inbox reached horrific heights: tens of thousands of un-filed emails even though I spent long hours every day reading them all. Instead of addressing the inbox itself, I decided to change my perspective...just not quite yet.
Stage 7:
Vacation = procrastination = temporary bliss.
Stage 8:
I returned from vacation to find THOUSANDS of unread emails.
Stage 9:
My fresh-from-vacation delusion convinces me I should clean up my act/inbox with some really hard work. It feels pretty damn good when it's finally clean.
Stage 10:
It lasts less than 2 weeks, but I keep trying. I spend countless hours over the course of 3 months re-cleaning it. I end up resenting everyone who Replies All with meaningless shit...a lot.
Stage 11:
After several months and countless hours of failing at this, I finally gave up. I decided it's just not worth feeding my mental/emotional need for a well groomed inbox. It's added to the list of "let that shit go."
Stage 12:
A full 10 months after starting my job, I have finally accepted my crazy inbox.
I even relish it a little.
The end.
A(n almost) year later, this is what I've learned.
Stage 1:
All my friends and new coworkers warned me about the volume and told me my best bet would be extreme prioritization and not doing/seeing/covering everything. But it was the beginning and my optimism ran (too) high.
Stage 2:
A couple months later the job was in full swing and I started to understand what everyone meant.
Stage 3:
DENIAL. This cannot be right.
Stage 4:
Negotiation with email senders to just IM/call/meet/anything instead of email.
Stage 5:
No one listened to my desperate pleas and I am overrun and overwhelmed. And the better I got at my job, the more emails I got. I felt hunted (or maybe haunted).
Stage 6:
It worsened and my inbox reached horrific heights: tens of thousands of un-filed emails even though I spent long hours every day reading them all. Instead of addressing the inbox itself, I decided to change my perspective...just not quite yet.
Stage 7:
Vacation = procrastination = temporary bliss.
Stage 8:
I returned from vacation to find THOUSANDS of unread emails.
Stage 9:
My fresh-from-vacation delusion convinces me I should clean up my act/inbox with some really hard work. It feels pretty damn good when it's finally clean.
Stage 10:
It lasts less than 2 weeks, but I keep trying. I spend countless hours over the course of 3 months re-cleaning it. I end up resenting everyone who Replies All with meaningless shit...a lot.
Stage 11:
After several months and countless hours of failing at this, I finally gave up. I decided it's just not worth feeding my mental/emotional need for a well groomed inbox. It's added to the list of "let that shit go."
Stage 12:
A full 10 months after starting my job, I have finally accepted my crazy inbox.
I even relish it a little.
The end.
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