Emails, blog posts, shows on my PVR, voicemail, texts, coffees and conversations... the day is filled with interruptions, information and urgent-things-that-aren't-urgent-really. Who can keep up?
For every filing system (electronic or not), every way to organize our day and the messages coming at us, there is an underlying assumption that, when we're not working, we're constantly preparing to work or clearing the way for productivity.
By the end of the day, I usually just sit and stare at the wall. In my head, I'm getting organized but, really, I'm just staring at the wall.
I follow several bloggers because I truly enjoy their writing. Yet even in my organized 'new posts to read' system I fall horribly behind. I just found a "merry xmas" email from my best friend from early in Dec. which I missed reading (and responding). I cleared voicemail from November... yesterday. I was ok with the little red light on for two months...
Many articles and studies focus on how much information bombards us daily - which is probably true. The other side of the coin is how much time and attention North American jobs demand of us so that sometimes it feels like a call from my mother is an interruption when really work has taken over even my private moments.
There is probably no one answer to this dilemma faced by so many of us. It is probably a grassroots thing... we have to start saying "no" in multiple spaces/places/circumstances on both sides of the equation.
So it's January 11 and I'm going to say "no" this month to whatever is eating up my attention whenever my mom has a moment to call. It's a place to start....
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