The WhiteSpace Project is allowing me to observe my behaviour on days when I am on, and comparing it with days when I am off.
One observation is the way I relate to email. Firstly, I want to know exactly where I stand – what is new, what is outstanding, what may be urgent. When I started the Project I was using Google mail via the web, but rapidly found the useless way it files information exposed me to the risk of just plain overlooking correspondence that was more than a day old, and (despite their powerful search tools) made it difficult for me to find what I may have missed – because I didn’t quite remember the content in the first place. Gmail was binned very quickly.
I then noticed that the day starts with a simple two step – turn on the computer, fire up Outlook. Every day. Then check email. I rarely check my calendar as I already have that front of mind, and mainly use the calendar for adds moves and changes, rather than reminding me what is on. This process serves as a constant reminder of events, meaning I rarely need to look again at the start of each day. I occasionally check my contacts.
So Outlook is primarily an email tool. But … once I have turned it on in the morning it usually hovers in the background all day. I turned off the autodownload service – with its annoying little ‘pop’ for new messages – years ago. But because it’s there it is just so easy to hit F9 for a quick update. And the weird thing is I know it is most unlikely that there will be anything crucial coming down the pipe. I cope all day on a WhiteSpace Day with no urge to hit F9.
Why do I enjoy distracting myself? Is that your experience?
