Things had been going along nicely for Ed. His new found email
organizational skills were working and people were starting to take
notice. In fact, he had gotten a promotion! The promotion came with an
added perk: a Blackberry.
The first few weeks he felt like a real big shot. Pretty soon though that old familiar feeling of being overwhelmed started to return. In his new position, he was getting more emails than ever before. And his Blackberry was starting to feel more like a curse than a blessing. Sure it was nice to be able to send an email from anywhere. It was also great to have his calendar and contacts with him wherever he was. On the other hand, the thing seemed to never quit buzzing. One time, it even woke him up at midnight buzzing because of some stupid appointment reminder. Yuk!
About a month after he got the Blackberry, he was driving down the road and as he looked over he
saw the Email angel in the passenger's seat.
You scarred me.
Fear not.
Ed, what are you doing?
Typing an email on my Blackberry.
Do you think that's wise?
Everybody does it.
Do you remember what your mother said about that?
Okay, point taken.
Why are you here?
I'm here to give you two rules that will bring your Blackberry into balance.
Okay, I'm ready to hear it. This thing is driving me crazy.
Rule 1: turn off all notifications but the phone. Otherwise it interrupts you way too often.
Rule 2: look at it no more than once an hour.
Do you think that will help or should I just get rid of it?
If you follow those rules, your Blackberry will be a blessing and not a curse.
Sure enough, Ed followed the Email angel's instructions and in a couple of weeks he was loving his Blackberry. It was proving to be a great help in his journey to escape from email hell.
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