Getting "Caught Up"

Do you ever open up your inbox in the morning and vow that this is gonna be the day you get caught up?

Getting your inbox to zero will be like sitting on top of the world. EVERYTHING else will be easier. Nothing will slip through the cracks anymore. Your mind will finally be at ease.

Well, let’s say dreams do come true and you actually read, respond to, and file every email in your inbox. You get caught up! Woohoo!

Now, if your job is like most positions these days, tomorrow morning when you open up your inbox, there’ll be more emails to read and respond to. And they will continue coming in throughout the day... and the next day and the next.

This is the moment you separate into one of two camps:

Camp 1 - Whatever It Takes

Some of you will grit your teeth, bear down, and COMMIT to maintaining that inbox zero that you worked so hard for.

• If you have to stay at your computer through lunch, rarely getting up throughout the day, fine.

• If you have to be glued to your phone to triage any email that comes in, you’ll do it.

• If you have to log in at night after the kids are asleep, that’s the price you’re willing to pay.

You got caught up and you are NOT going to fall behind again.

Camp 2 - Back Where You Started

Others of you will have a busy day that next day.

• It’ll be full of meetings, interruptions, and unplanned projects that will take you out of your inbox for a day, or two.

• You might have a sick kid, a doctor’s appointment, or a last-minute trip, and your inbox will reflect just how distracted you’ve been.

You’ll end up right back where you started and feel disappointed, frustrated, and angry that your inbox is full AGAIN. You just got caught up!

Camp 3??

Now I want you to consider this scenario.

Let’s say you work really hard to get your inbox cleaned up. To get “caught up” as they say.

And the next day it all goes to shit with interruptions, distractions, and unplanned events. Your inbox fills back up with emails, requests, deadlines, and other tasks.

But instead of beating yourself up for “falling behind”. Or fighting to get “caught up” again, you shrug your shoulders and remind yourself that this is life. And especially life as someone with a professional job and kids and a household to manage.

You are going to get emails. It’s how we communicate.

And the number of emails sitting in your inbox says nothing about who you are. It says nothing about how organized, happy, or present you are.

They’re just emails.

They don’t have that kind of power over your life.

Only YOU can assign meaning to the size of your inbox.

So what does getting 'caught up' even mean?

If we all agree that emails are the way in which the world communicates, can you even envision a day where you aren’t continuously receiving new emails?

It’s like laundry. Unless you’re going to outsource (which if you have the means for that, what are you waiting for?!?), it’s going to be a part of your everyday life.

You can either resent it and work to constantly chase an ever-moving finish line or you can accept it as a part of life and just do what needs to be done.

Are there other areas of your life where you are trying to get “caught up”?

What would it mean to get “caught up”? Would it make you happier? Less stressed? More present?

Do you have to get caught up before you can be any of those things?

What if it were as easy as replying to the next email, putting in the next load of laundry, and accepting that the goal is NOT to get caught up?

The goal is to live. And living is about more than emails and laundry.

My clients and I don’t believe in getting caught up. We find ways to make daily responsibilities manageable and we focus on the things that make our lives enjoyable.

If this sounds like a life philosophy you desire, you should consider private coaching. Reach out to learn more.