Three kids … my own business … it’s a juggle. I never feel like there are enough free hours each week to feel like I am on top of my work. And if I do start to feel like I have things under control then you can be sure that means school holidays are about to start and unravel that faster than you can say “Mum”!
Juggling kids and my own business has meant perfecting the art of grabbing opportunities to get things done. It might be brainstorming some blog ideas in the car if I am early for school pick up, starting my weekly newsletter one afternoon if the kids are magically playing upstairs in their room, or taking my laptop to a medical appointment in case the Doctor is running late. This is how things get done.
Smart phones appear to be a blessing for Mums like me juggling work and children. From my phone I can post social media updates for my business, access documents online, and send/receive emails. The ultimate multi tasking/efficiency tool right? Well … yes … but no.
At the end of last year, when we moved to Waiheke Island, I decided to remove my work email from my phone as an experiment. 10 months later I have no intention to put it back on.
Why did I remove my work email from my phone?
I had been feeling for some time that it was distracting me when I was in “family mode”. It was a like a magnet drawing me back to “just check in” when I should have been playing with my children, watching them swim, concentrating on cooking dinner, or just unwinding. I felt like this distraction was draining my energy and not allowing me to ever switch off. So I chose to remove it.
10 months down the track I can honestly say it has not made me any less efficient and it has definitely helped me feel less frazzled. My personal email is still on my phone so I can read a school newsletter or something if I am early for school pick up. But I don’t feel compelled to check these emails so I do not feel drawn to my phone when I am in ‘family mode’.
Now that I only check my work emails on my laptop I do sometimes catch myself answering emails while cooking dinner, the laptop perched on the kitchen bench. I think that is a habit I best let go of too … really, nothing is ever THAT urgent.
It reminds me of this saying:
How about you? Do you have work emails on your phone? Does it work for you?
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