Christa, Day 7: Don't Call, Don't Shout, Just Email and I'll Get Back to You When I Can

Here's a little story: A few years back, my cell phone died and there was a 24 hour period in which I had no phone. No problem, right? People lived without them for hundreds of years. It should have been all good. And was, until I got lost on the road. Without a phone, so there's me, halfway between my appointment and home, wondering whether to just keep driving or go home and reschedule. Those, after all, would have been my option once upon a time. One of the two, or find a pay phone. Would you believe that I actually found a working pay phone? AND had a quarter? AND reached my husband, who then got me to my destination with the Internet as our guide?

Reading that, would you want to go back to the pre-cell days? Or the days of having to hope that you have a map that has what you're looking for on it? I sure wouldn't. Today's simplification item involves communication - specifically, remote communication:

Limit your communications. Our lives these days are filled with a vast flow of communications: email, IM, cell phones, paper mail, Skype, Twitter, forums, and more. It can take up your whole day if you let it. Instead, put a limit on your communications: only do email at certain times of the day, for a certain number of minutes (I recommend twice a day, but do what works for you). Only do IM once a day, for a limited amount of time. Limit phone calls to certain times too. Same with any other communications. Set a schedule and stick to it.

I like how James nixed number seven, saying it just didn't sound fun. Cool. For some, the remote communication forms we've all by now adapted to are enjoyable, not stressful. And for others, like myself, they are practical. After mulling over number seven all day, I think I have finally encountered a list item that wouldn't simplify my life enough to make it worthwhile.

Why? As a freelancer, I have communications coming in from various people throughout the day. Some of it in the form of email - most of it, thankfully. Some in the form of Facebook notifications or messages. Etc.

Setting a rigid fixed period or periods of time to deal with communication-related tasks would be stress inducing for me because I'd rather not open my email box to 20+ messages or have to deal with a huge pile of social media to-dos when I get home from work. If a freelance offer comes in via any channel, I want to know about it ASAP so I can coordinate it scheduling wise or decline it. BUT there are things I can do to make my remote communication a more disciplined and thus simpler part of my overall day.

The cell phone: Luckily, this is not an issue. Because my phone is on a family plan, I don't tend to give out the number to many people so it's fairly unusual to hear my phone ringing in the middle of the productive part of my day or during family time.

The paper mail: I grab this either when I come home for lunch or when I return after picking up my daughter. And I am quick to open and file or recycle it nearly all of the time, so I don't have paper piling up. This takes me no more than a few minutes or so.

Email: My tendency, since I have a browser up all day for work, is to leave a tab with Gmail open. Because, as I said above, I do like being accessible via email. However, I will interrupt what I am doing to respond to incoming emails even when a click glance has showed me they're not vital. SOLUTION: Turn off Gmail while actively writing and editing, problem solved.

Facebook: Already decreased my Facebook consumption by quite a bit at work, which has been beneficial in that I end up finishing work more quickly. I can't, however, block it, as we're starting office-wide social media updates at work, and I often use coffee breaks to do a little freelance social media work. For every other time? SOLUTION: Stop looking at Facebook so dang much at home.

Twitter: Auto posts only, so I'm all set here.

Chat: My main chat venue is Gmail, which means that closing that attention-sucking Gmail tab will keep chat time at a minimum. At least at work. But really, it's not like I'm plagued with people wanting to chat with me. I think by now most people know that I'd rather exchange emails than talk in real time, if only because I'm either working or herding a toddler around and so I don't have a lot of free time to just gab gab gab.

... that about covers it and here's me pledging to work on cutting down on the omnipresent Gmail/Facebook timesuck bifecta. Luckily, I haven't yet fallen into the trap of using Facebook mobile or checking my email on the road - mainly because when I set my phone to give me my email, I went out of my mind with all the darn notification beeping. Like, hello, telephone, stop bothering me! If I can't be arsed to even listen to my voicemail unless I know it's something important, then what is the likelihood that I want me emails coming through my cell or bugging me when I'm not actually at my computer? Pretty close to zero, I think.