Organize U

The United Organizing Company: Balancing Your Work and Home Life.

Analyzing Our Email Addiction

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I’ve been getting into Twitter more and more each day.  It fascinates me to read all of the information available out there in real time.  I follow several other Professional Organizers because I like to see what’s going on around the country/world with respect to organizing.  I follow local Connecticut businesses to increase my network in the immediate area and I also follow some friends and family.  My contribution to twitter is to find interesting statistics on clutter, time management, and general organizing to share with my fellow “tweeps” (that would be short for tweople, which is twitter-speak for people).  Thanks to the newly reformatted NAPO website, I came across this gem of a statistic that I shared with my tweeps last week:

“People today check their email from the strangest of places. Where you ask?

  • 67% in bed, in their pajamas
  • 59% from the bathroom (up from 53% last year)
  • 50% while driving (up from 37% last year)
  • 39% in a bar or club
  • 38% in a business meeting
  • 34% during happy hour
  • 25% while on a date
  • 15% from church (up from 12% last year.)”

Statistic by/from 4th Annual Email Addiction Survey from AOL

Since Twitter limits you to 140 characters, I had to publish this statistic in eight, easy-to-read, tweets.  Regardless, trust me when I say that a rather lively conversation soon followed.  So let’s break this down, shall we?

  • I love my sleep and am the type of person who needs to hit the snooze button a few times to wake myself up.  Then I would turn the TV on to further that wake-up process.  Since I got my blackberry?  I now roll over, take the blackberry off the nightstand, and check my emails.  Sometimes I even check twitter.  It helps me wake up.  What can I tell you?

  • As for the bathroom, that’s really bordering on TMI (i.e., too much information).  Let’s just say that while I’m getting ready in the morning – make-up, hair, etc. – my blackberry is right there just in case an email from the President comes in looking for a Professional Organizer.  It could happen!

  • While driving?  Guilty.  Let me qualify, however, that some of those traffic lights are LONG.  Why not get ahead of the game by checking emails while sitting at a red light?  Seriously, this is NOT a good habit and one in which I commit to changing.

  • Checking email in a bar/club or at happy hour is relatively the same thing to me.  I’m usually with friends or networking in these venues so the blackberry use is minimal. 

  • In a business meeting?  Not likely.  I wouldn’t want someone to be emailing while I’m trying to get him to focus on what I’m saying, so why would I do that to someone else?  I don’t think it’s proper etiquette.  However at my last NAPO conference, I attended some sessions on the topic of technology and social media where the instructors encouraged us to tweet during their presentation.  I guess it depends on the audience.

  • From the single woman’s perspective, emailing while on a date is a huge no-no.  According to one of my single guy friends, when on a date, women use the restroom for an average 13 minutes and 12 seconds.  Why shouldn’t a guy be able to check his email during that time?  Good point.  She’s likely doing the same thing, which would then elevate her to the category of “checking email from the bathroom.”  Confused yet?

  • Checking email from church?  And that’s and increasing trend?  Wow!  I don’t go to church all that often but when I do, I don’t think I even bring my phone INSIDE with me.  If I’m ever in church with you and you’re an email-checker, please warn me ahead of time so I can sit far enough away to avoid any aftershocks from the lightening bolt that’s bound to hit you.

One thing this survey did not address is checking email while exercising.  Do people do that?  I, for one, never take my phone with me on a walk or in the yoga studio.  My exercise is as much for the mind as it is for the body.  I just need a break.

So readers, how do you measure up?  Take a minute to sit back and give some thought to the “when” and “where” of your email checking.  And honestly in this age of Blackberries and iPhones, “checking email” really refers to “checking emails, texts, voice mails, tweets, Facebook statuses, LinkedIn notices, etc.”  For me personally, I’m happy with my balance of blackberry usage.  I think I’m considerate to the people around me (even when the only person around me is ME) and adapt my blackberry habits accordingly.  What would I change?  Checking emails while driving.  There is just no need for that.  What would YOU change?

Analyzing Your Beliefs

A few summers ago, I had a chance to participate in a weekend workshop called Avatar.  The basic premise of the workshop is to drill down and identify core beliefs through a series of exercises.  These are beliefs you hold about yourself, your family and friends, your relationships, and your expectations from life.  It was all about getting back to basics and identifying and embracing beliefs that still honor the person you are today and discarding beliefs that no longer serve you.  Those outdated beliefs need to be removed and/or replaced with new, more appropriate beliefs.  A simple example:  The belief that it is bad to talk to strangers served me well as a child and kept me safe, but if I followed that advice today, I don't think I would have any clients!

My good friend and nutritionist, Rebecca Karchere, completed the same Avatar workshop with me.  We enjoyed it so much that we decided to incorporate a discussion on beliefs into a workshop of our own titled, "Lose the Clutter, Drop the Weight." In the session, we initially ask the participants to write down their beliefs about people who are "organized" vs. "disorganized."  It is always very interesting to hear their answers.  For example, one attendee said "organized people are stressed out and uptight."  Another assumed that, "disorganized people aren't very successful.  How can they be if they can't find anything?"  After hearing a few such responses, we were compelled to ask the question:

How do your beliefs about being organized or disorganized affect your ability to accomplish your organization goals?  Do you think your beliefs are moving you forward by allowing you to change, or holding you back?

Consider these scenarios:

  • If you think of yourself as a disorganized person and you hold a belief that "organized people are stressed out and uptight," why are you trying get organized?  Why would you want to accomplish something that you believe would create stress? 
  • Similarly if you consider yourself to be a disorganized person and believe that "disorganized people aren't very successful," how do you think that belief will affect your ability to be successful?  Your belief may be limiting you from achieving your goals. 

Over the next couple of weeks, I challenge you to take a look at your beliefs.  Think about a goal you're trying to accomplish - getting organized, losing weight, making more money - and take a step back to identify the beliefs you hold surrounding that goal.  What do you believe about people who are "fat" vs. "skinny?"  What do you believe about the weight loss process?  What do you believe about people who are "rich" vs. "poor?"  The exercise may highlight a few roadblocks getting in your way.  Once you identify a belief that no longer serves you, it is simply a matter of changing your thought process and adopting a belief that can get you back on the path to achieving your goal.