I might end up hitting this boat....
My good friend Maggie has a saying, “Every once in a while, you have to chew through the leash.”
What she means is that now and again it’s a good thing to break the ties that bind you in your everyday life. Don’t answer the cell, don’t check your email, and don’t call in for your voicemail. That can be hard for me, and it takes a conscious effort on my part.
It’s almost midnight. I am sitting on the deck of my boat in Newport, RI watching the changing tides and winds push us VERY close to the boat that was previously in front of us. Since I can’t sleep anyway, I have been sitting here thinking about how it is that I got leashed in the first place.
I think it all started with a pager. Early in the life of my business I resisted getting a pager and being “on call”. But the life of a technology consultant isn’t forgiving in that way, so ultimately I relented. I remember thinking that having a pager was like being chained to the office. The only other person employed by my fledgling company shared my concern.
Later on, we had the opportunity to get remote access in the form of a Citrix server. I remember resisting that too, for the same reason. Likewise, I have had concerns with the VPN’s, terminal servers, IP phones, PDA’s and all the other gadgets that have been designed to make my life “easier”. Each one of these little wonders is designed to be more efficient at chaining me to my office.
...Or is it?
That first pager was an eye opener for my partner and me. While we thought it was a leash, it turned out to be a pair of wings. What I mean is that once we had it, we didn’t have to constantly check our voicemails. We didn’t have to be paranoid about being in the office either. If someone had a problem, they would page us!
Oddly enough, many of the other “leashes” were implemented with similar results. Our various remote access solutions allowed us to work from home and avoid having to go to the office to deal with an emergency. Now, instead of missing a meal with family, all we had was a slight interruption. So, as time went on, we became early adopters of each new “time saver” or “life enhancer”.
Pretty soon, we had so many of these “conveniences” that they had become leashes again.
I think this is how most people today live. I know that my Father can’t go 12 hours without checking his email, and my best friend has to have his phone with him at all times so that he can respond to his office messages immediately. It may be true that these technologies free us from having to be “at the office”. But if that is the case, then it is equally true that these technologies grey the line between our business and personal lives.
So, is that a good thing? I don’t know. In the end, I suppose it all comes down to setting boundaries, showing good common sense, and establishing priorities. We have to make time for ourselves.
So Todd’s tech advice for this week (mostly because I am on vacation), is that you draw a line in the sand now and again and press whatever power buttons you can. Shut it all down. Turn it off. Cut the power.
Chew through the leash!
...That being said, please ignore the irony of the fact that while on vacation, and on my boat, I am using a laptop to post to my company’s blog :) I didn’t check my email though!
What she means is that now and again it’s a good thing to break the ties that bind you in your everyday life. Don’t answer the cell, don’t check your email, and don’t call in for your voicemail. That can be hard for me, and it takes a conscious effort on my part.
It’s almost midnight. I am sitting on the deck of my boat in Newport, RI watching the changing tides and winds push us VERY close to the boat that was previously in front of us. Since I can’t sleep anyway, I have been sitting here thinking about how it is that I got leashed in the first place.
I think it all started with a pager. Early in the life of my business I resisted getting a pager and being “on call”. But the life of a technology consultant isn’t forgiving in that way, so ultimately I relented. I remember thinking that having a pager was like being chained to the office. The only other person employed by my fledgling company shared my concern.
Later on, we had the opportunity to get remote access in the form of a Citrix server. I remember resisting that too, for the same reason. Likewise, I have had concerns with the VPN’s, terminal servers, IP phones, PDA’s and all the other gadgets that have been designed to make my life “easier”. Each one of these little wonders is designed to be more efficient at chaining me to my office.
...Or is it?
That first pager was an eye opener for my partner and me. While we thought it was a leash, it turned out to be a pair of wings. What I mean is that once we had it, we didn’t have to constantly check our voicemails. We didn’t have to be paranoid about being in the office either. If someone had a problem, they would page us!
Oddly enough, many of the other “leashes” were implemented with similar results. Our various remote access solutions allowed us to work from home and avoid having to go to the office to deal with an emergency. Now, instead of missing a meal with family, all we had was a slight interruption. So, as time went on, we became early adopters of each new “time saver” or “life enhancer”.
Pretty soon, we had so many of these “conveniences” that they had become leashes again.
I think this is how most people today live. I know that my Father can’t go 12 hours without checking his email, and my best friend has to have his phone with him at all times so that he can respond to his office messages immediately. It may be true that these technologies free us from having to be “at the office”. But if that is the case, then it is equally true that these technologies grey the line between our business and personal lives.
So, is that a good thing? I don’t know. In the end, I suppose it all comes down to setting boundaries, showing good common sense, and establishing priorities. We have to make time for ourselves.
So Todd’s tech advice for this week (mostly because I am on vacation), is that you draw a line in the sand now and again and press whatever power buttons you can. Shut it all down. Turn it off. Cut the power.
Chew through the leash!
...That being said, please ignore the irony of the fact that while on vacation, and on my boat, I am using a laptop to post to my company’s blog :) I didn’t check my email though!
[looking up from the laptop] - Wow. This boat is getting really close....
posted by Todd @ 11:46 PM
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