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Know When to Stop

Most businesspeople love the flexibility and convenience that e-mail and instant messaging have brought to their work life. Productivity no longer means being tethered to your desk—but it does mean being tethered electronically to your Blackberry, iPhone, or other PDA of choice. The upside of being wirelessly connected is always being in touch—at the airport, during lunch, and even on vacation! The downside is that you’re always available, 24/7, 365 days a year—unless you know when to stop reading your e-mails!

A 2008 survey by the Pew Internet and American Life Project revealed that although 80 percent of wired workers believe that technology has improved their ability to do their job:

• 46 percent say that wireless technology has increased demands that they work more hours.

• 49 percent say it has increased the level of stress in their job, and makes it harder for them to disconnect from their work when they’re at home evenings and weekends.

With the lines between work, leisure, home, and office becoming ever more blurred, here are some ideas for reducing that “always on call” feeling.

Take tether breaks. Turn off your PDA or smartphone for 15 minutes during the day. Surprisingly, life won’t come to a screeching halt. Use the time to focus, relax, read, or just do nothing.

Give your inbox a holiday. According to an AOL and Opinion Research Corporation survey, Americans are increasingly addicted to checking their e-mail, with 83 percent of survey respondents checking e-mail every day on vacation! If you must take a wired vacation, limit inbox activity to every two or three days.

Schedule weekend check-ins. If you need to check your e-mail during the weekend (do you really?), then schedule specific chunks of time to read and respond. For example, once on Saturday morning and once on Sunday evening. If you’re worried about missing an important message, remember that most people will call your cell phone if there’s an urgent matter.

Availability isn’t obligation. Just because the telephone rings does not mean you are obligated to answer it. You have a choice—the same for e-mails and instant messages. Take charge by answering if you can, and when you want to.

The autoresponder is your friend. Don’t limit your use of e-mail autoresponder to vacations and business trips. Instead, get creative, and if you want to take a few hours of “unplugged” time, harness the technology to let would-be e-mailers know you are out of reach and what they should do, or whom they should call in case of an emergency.