Chanpory Rith
May 7, 2010
Four years ago, I started forwarding my work email to my personal email account. The reason? One inbox for all email is easier to manage. It’ll my make life simpler, right?
Not.
Turns out, all it did was stress me out at home and on the weekends. There’s always an annoying email about a problem I can’t do anything about since I’m not in the office. And usually, the sender finds another way to solve the problem.
More emails just meant more worry.
So, this weekend I’m completely separating my work email from my personal email. If there’s a real urgent need to get a hold of me, then call me. ;-)
7 Comments
C.G.
7:04 pm
I used to have my work and personal email come through on the same Blackberry. When work bled into my weekends, I hated seeing that flashing red light or unread messages on the home screen.
I originally thought I wouldn’t want to carry two devices. I could use one phone number and the simplification would be great. But I learned through stress & anxiety of mixing work & personal communications that I needed that separation and I have two devices now. It doesn’t hurt that I now work for an organization that, for the most part, values time away from work.
But I’ll never mix business with pleasure again – even if its my own business.
Chris
2:39 am
Forwarding mails to your personal account is often not allowed by the company policy anyway, since mails can contain sensitive information that should not travel uncontrolled through foreign mail servers. It is recommended to create a separate account in your mail client and access the work email directly via pop or imap from the work mail sever if you really must. Then you can also decide whether or not you look into that separate account at home.
Denise
2:32 pm
I usually just unplug on the weekends. No internet stuff. I find that it works well for me. But when I do check my messages, I just check. I don’t do anything about them until Monday comes.
Jon
1:23 pm
Man If I could only do that. But. But. I’ll miss something important! Technology owns us all.
Niluka Weerasinghe
10:52 am
Hi,
i always use separate accounts to deal. when come cross with the business only 5days. when I am at home i don’t check my mail and even i don’t on PC
Good points
Niluka
teamcurtisfamily
8:55 am
What happens when you work from home? :-)
One mail is definitely easier to maintain, the problem, there is always another email to respond to. What I have learned to do, ok still trying to get better, is have a set time to be done with working online and unplug. Though it is not easy, it is a must!
Brian
9:22 am
I like working seven days a week as it spreads the work load over the week. Monday’s not a hectic day for me, and it’s not like my weekends are packed full of wall-to-wall activities – if I get an odd hour, I’ll check email and keep on top of things.