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Stress and email

Stress and the Daily Email Avalanche

By Stress and email One Comment

Unless you don’t have an email address (and if so, you can stop reading now) you are not immune from the onslaught of emails and Facebook notifications that appear daily in your inbox. The onslaught of emails supports the premise that information is in great supply, but wisdom is scarce. The creator of the now famous TED lecture series, Chris Anderson, has initiated an Email Charter; rules of etiquette for corresponding with emails. While it may seem like common sense, the fact that there are no agreed-upon rules, makes opening, reading and responding to email a major stressor for a lot of people. Compounding the problem is the addiction many people have to checking their email inbox, coupled with the need to respond right away (immediate gratification) or the guilt associated with not responding right away. Several years ago, the leaders of many high tech companies (Google, Apple, Microsoft, Oracle, etc.) got together to discuss the new high tech monster called email. While no solution was reached, the stated problem was very real. Not long afterward, the founder of TED decided to create an Email Charter (see the links below for details& specifics).

Stress Tip for the Day:
There is no shortage of suggestions about healthy boundaries regarding emails, but here are a few. After the obvious (such as deleting all emails that have been forwarded, not reading emails that begin with Re: or have attachments, here are a few more things to remember:
1. Set healthy boundaries when checking your email (e.g., five times a day), and not before breakfast or after dinner.
2. Do not bring technology into the bedroom (no emails or texting from your bed).
3. If you would rather send an email to avoid someone directly, ask yourself what are you really
avoiding.
4. Remember, checking email in the presence of another person is rude, particularly if you are in the midst of a conversation with him or her.
5. Communicate to close friends that you would rather have them call you or visit in person than deluge you with emails or Facebook updates.

Links/Books/Movies Worth Noting:

The following are two links with suggestions for good email etiquette. Enjoy!
http://blog.ted.com/2011/06/30/the-email-charter-an-idea-worth-spreading/
http://tedchris.posterous.com/help-create-an-email-charter
http://emailcharter.org/

Quote for the Day:
“Men won’t read any email from any woman that’s over 200 words long.” — Doug Coupland

Photo for the Day:
While prepping new photos for the 7th edition of my textbook, Managing Stress, I took some photos for the new chapter, The Sociology of stress, including this one (my neighbor who modeled some images…) Thanks, Shaan.

Brian Luke Seaward, Ph.D. is an internationally renowned expert in the fields of stress management, mind-body-spirit healing and stress and human spirituality. He is the author of over 10 books including the bestsellers, Stand Like Mountain, Flow Like Water, Stressed Is Desserts Spelled Backward, The Art of Calm, Quiet Mind, Fearless Heart and Managing Stress (7E) and the forthcoming, A Beautiful World. He can be reached through his website:www.brianlukeseaward.net

© Brian Luke Seaward, Ph.D.