The No-Email Experiment
For my 50th birthday this month, I did something really really crazy. By crazy I mean, I took an old-fashioned vacation to my favorite place on the planet (Maui) and I didn’t check email once in two weeks. I know, I know. That’s pretty insane if you know anything about me and know that I run a global luxury travel business and I’ve long had a reputation as one of the fastest email responders on the planet.
I’ve never in 15 years wanted to miss one single email lest I lose the chance to help a new client plan a vacation (ironically, the type I never let myself take until now!). And, I surely didn’t want to piss off any existing clients by making them wait on a response from me. Two hours maybe, but two weeks, no way.
The first couple of days on Maui, not going to lie, it was a challenge not checking my email late at night “just in case” there was something begging for my attention. But, like any bad habit, the craving for late-night (and early-morning, and midday and afternoon) emailing got less and less as I let go of the need to know everything about everyone in my world. I went to sleep earlier than usual most nights, slept better, woke up refreshed and excited to experience another “vacation day” filled with nothing but long walks at the beach, fun times with local friends, and a lot of unplanned adventures that I was able to fully enjoy (instead of worrying about unanswered emails like I’ve always done in the past).
To clarify, I didn’t go completely “offline” or forego all social media as I actually really enjoy staying connected through photos and posts; that’s the inner-journalist/storyteller in me. I DID however delete my twitter app as I find it’s gotten too noisy over there (too many politicians and their supporters/haters screaming at each other in all CAPS). My brain is appreciating the extra time in the day I’m not on twitter reading what everyone else is saying, and it’s allowing me more opportunity to tune in to what my heart and soul want me to hear (not what the rest of the world has to say at any given moment on any given topic). With a following of 74K on twitter, I never thought I’d give that up, but I’m surprised how much I do NOT miss it. I can always go back. Maybe if/when it gets fun on twitter again. For now, no thanks. I’ll stick with posting pretty photos of happy places and my dogs and lots of inspirational sayings on Instagram and use Facebook as my main database/connection hub with family, friends and colleagues. It’s still my social media platform of choice. I wanted to share the experiences I was having while “off email” on Maui, like the joy-filled moments including rainbows appearing on cue at my 50th birthday party (see below) for those who couldn’t physically be there.
Social media to me isn’t my addiction, it was the constant need to be in touch with work-related issues that I needed to get a grip on. So I did. I put on a very detailed “out of office” response that made it clear to the sender I would not be seeing any incoming email until November 12 but my colleagues were available to assist with any time-sensitive requests during my email sabbatical. I had a team of associates on the mainland checking my inbox multiple times daily. and asked that they only text me in case of a real emergency (I received three texts in two weeks, and each scenario was quickly solved so we could go back to me being offline and trusting them to handle incoming inquiries).
I never envisioned being able to take a hiatus from being a world-class, first-world problem solver, but it’s now the last night of my two-week experiment and we all survived. The world totally went on without me despite me moving my mailbox app to the back of my iPhone to avoid “accidentally” tapping it and opening the inbox I swore off looking at for two weeks.
With the clarity that came with a two-week break from seeing the deluge emails daily (some personal, some work, some junk) I am excited to get back to work and checking my inbox (tomorrow!). Not only does my brain feel fully recharged after a two-week break from the high-level multi-tasking that comes with being a CEO/entrepreneur, but all the physical knots/kinks in my back and neck (“work stress” as my chiro and PT often diagnose) are totally gone. I LOVE what I do for a living, but even those of us who sell vacations for a living really DO need to take mental vacations to avoid overload and the resulting symptoms that indicate burnout (headaches, lack of sleep, back pain). I’m back on email tomorrow morning so feel free to reach out if you’d like to book YOUR next vacation and take a break from all that’s getting in your way from living your best, most fun, healthiest version of your life.
