Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Email Can Wait

Generally when I'm away from the office, I consistently and frequently monitor and respond to email.  When I was away for a couple of extra days during the Independence Day holiday, I intentionally disengaged from my cherished Blackberry.  Yes, I checked it, a couple of times per day.  But, it was not my constant companion.  I got to unwind. (Disclaimer: The days surrounding 4th of July are probably the best days to try this experiment.  The number of emails I received was 10% of my normal volume.)

Though I never answer a phone call or respond to an email when I'm in a meeting (inconsiderate and rude), it never occurred to me that answering emails when I'm on vacation is the equivalent (inconsiderate and rude) behavior to my family.  Vacations are times that we have allocated to focus on people and things we love.  In essence, they are extended meetings of a personal nature. 

Regardless of how electronically connected we become, we must occasionally electronically disconnect in order to fully personally connect.

No comments:

Post a Comment