{"id":1360,"date":"2012-10-03T13:09:32","date_gmt":"2012-10-03T20:09:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/masteryourworkday.com\/?p=1360"},"modified":"2012-10-03T13:09:32","modified_gmt":"2012-10-03T20:09:32","slug":"our-obsession-with-e-mail-and-busyness-and-finding-a-balance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/our-obsession-with-e-mail-and-busyness-and-finding-a-balance\/","title":{"rendered":"Our Obsession with E-mail and \u201cBusyness\u201d\u2014and Finding a Balance"},"content":{"rendered":"

October 3, 2012<\/strong><\/p>\n

Why do many of us need to check e-mail all the time? Why do many of us choose to work on e-mail and other things even in our free time? In other words, why are we so obsessed with busyness?<\/p>\n

One view is we are trying to get ahead. It\u2019s the competitive American way. We work hard to try to get the big rewards (or at least to keep up).<\/p>\n

That may be true for some of us. Our constant busyness is part of a thought-out strategy to achieve more\u2014for ourselves and our family.<\/p>\n

But I wonder if for many of us, rather, this constant search for busyness is an attempt to fill a void. That for whatever reason, we have few other positive personal focuses in life that gives us a similar sense of purpose. To me, a recent New York Times opinion piece states this possibility well:<\/p>\n

“Busyness serves as a kind of existential reassurance, a hedge against emptiness; obviously your life cannot possibly be silly or trivial or meaningless if you are so busy, completely booked, in demand every hour of the day.”\u00a0 http:\/\/opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com\/2012\/06\/30\/the-busy-trap\/<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

My point is not to disparage very busy people (believe me, I am one!). Rather, it\u2019s to suggest that a bit of self-reflection may be useful every so often.<\/p>\n

So maybe now is a good moment for that. Ask yourself, Why do I need to check e-mail every moment? Why do I need to jump on the work laptop when I get home in the evening? Am I truly passionate<\/em> about my work\u2014I truly love<\/em> it\u2014and so this near obsession is a good thing? Or am I trying to fill a void caused by the absence of other sources of true meaning in my life?<\/p>\n

If after some self-reflection you decide it may be the latter, then it\u2019s time to find that meaning! I leave how<\/em> to find that up to you\u2014there are no lack of sources for finding a positive purpose in life. If you do not know where to start, I discuss some ways in Chapter 14 of my 2010 book Master Your Workday Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But no matter how you do that, be sure to find a balance between work<\/em> purpose and life<\/em> purpose, you\u2019ll be happier if you do!<\/p>\n

Michael<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

October 3, 2012 Why do many of us need to check e-mail all the time? Why do many of us choose to work on e-mail and other things even in our free time? In other words, why are we so … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1360"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1360\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}