I started to write Shawn Morrissey a note about this, then thought it’d be more fun to share. Shawn writes:
"I found that, given the right seat on an airplane so I actually have
room to open a laptop, I can get lots and lots of work done. I don’t
know why it took so long to break through the “duh” factor, and I
finally started doing the same thing when I’m on terra firma. I’ve
started setting aside 90 minutes or so every day, and set Outlook into
Offline mode. Then I can do tearing through my inbox without
distraction."
Once, for a big project, I traveled back and forth from San Francisco to NYC almost every weekend for about two years. I flew so much that United sent me a gift. "We see that your travels often take you to New York, so we thought you might like a New Yorker desk diary." That’s when you know you’re on the road way too much.
The point is, I’ve never been more productive then when I was on that plane. My team HATED when I flew, because after I landed I always connected up and sent off 50+ emails that had been written while in the air. It was my time to catch up on all of the unanswered email of the week, take a project status check, and get my my team’s ducks in a row for the following week.
I think Shawn’s on to something. If you need to focus on your Inbox for a while, take Outlook offline and pretend you’re flying. If only I could figure out how to get a complimentary drink and bag of peanuts, too…
Great idea Brad, and one I bet Merlin Mann would get totally on board with. I’m struggling right now with just *how* responsive I need to be… i.e. how long can that window be that I’m “offline”. I think for different jobs it’s a different length of time.
Posted by Jason Clarke on March 19th, 2006.