Tools for Transformation Tuesday: After the Tech Break...

When I told a good friend I was planning to unplug from technology during my recent journey to the other side of the world, she responded, "I could never do that! I would spend the whole time dreading the work it would take to plug back in!"

She had a point, of course. Freeing ourselves from the grip of the technology that so often commands our time, attention, and energy can be liberating, but when we reconnect, it is easy to be overwhelmed by the out-of-control inbox awaiting us. While I don't claim to be a technology or efficiency expert, each year since starting this venture, I have taken at least one technology free week to relax, recharge, and reconnect with people and activities that nourish me. Through trial and error, I have developed a few systems and strategies that have enabled me to ease back in without anxiety, and I am sharing them in the hope you find them useful, as well:

• Set expectations: It goes without saying that whenever you take a vacation from a traditional work setting, you inform your colleagues of your plans, ensure you are caught up on your projects, and set some sort of automated "Out of Office" response indicating when you can be expected to respond to messages sent during your absence. The same steps apply when you take a tech break. Let your friends and family know you will be unreachable by email and social media, and set up an auto response to ensure no one is left wondering why you haven't responded in a timely fashion. These small steps can go a long way toward preventing miscommunication and frustration.
  
• Give yourself a cushion: If you plan to unplug from a Sunday through a Saturday, consider setting your Out of Office response for Sunday through Sunday. While you may feel tempted to jump into response mode the moment your break ends, you will be grateful for the chance to ease back in on your own terms rather than facing the unnecessary (and self-imposed) pressure of responding to every message at 12:01am on your first day back online.
  
• Assess before you act: I like to divide my inbox into three tranches that help me prioritize and maximize efficiency:
  1. Unnecessary: This can be anything from spam to store promotions to social media notifications. If it doesn't warrant a response or provide information worth retaining, simply delete it. Immediately.
  2. Good to Know/Reference: These messages don't need a response and aren't time sensitive, but contain information you want to read and digest. Perhaps it is an article sent by a friend or a discussion on a topic of interest to you. Create a temporary folder to revisit these items when time and energy allow.
  3. Needs Action: This is the angst-producing category for most of us - the phantom messages we imagine are waiting impatiently, staring us down until they receive a response... You will spend the majority of your time and energy in this category. For messsages that require action, I employ the time-honored O.H.I.O. method: Only Handle It Once. When you are ready to handle your actionable items, start at one end of the list and move through to the end, addressing each message as you go. You may not be able to complete a given action item in one sitting, but you can let the sender know the status, or request the information you need to move forward. It may seem tempting to start with the "easy" items, or, conversely, to get the heavy lifting out of the way, but a haphazard approach too often results in reading some messages multiple times, while others linger and generate even more angst. 
     

As we near the beginning of the Summer travel season, consider whether you can turn a vacation - or even a staycation - into an opportunity to unplug. Don't let anxiety about plugging back in keep you from scheduling - and taking - a long-overdue tech break.