Deborah Cooke: Author

How did you do last week?

Last week was media deprivation week for me. This is always tough, although it works. I’ve done TAW enough times that I can eliminate radio, television and newspapers from my life for a week without having a fit. It’s the first day that hurts, then it’s easy. I got over that transition in previous runs through this book.

It’s always the internet that confounds me. Part of this is an excuse – I fritter away the most time online, over any other time-sink activities – and part of it is my lack of conviction that a person really can disappear from the digital universe for a week without missing something key.

I understand JC’s argument that reading can be avoided for a week – and like JC, I frequently ducked my reading list for a week or more in university, in order to do other things that were more fun. The problem is that the world has changed. My copy of TAW is at least 15 years old – in that 15 years, the expectation of how available a person will be and how responsive that person will be has completely changed. In business, it is expected that people will be available if not hourly then at least daily, primarily through email or texting. Even on vacation, people stay in touch electronically from wherever they travel. This is an enormous cultural change, and there are frequently articles published about how this is adversely affecting our stress levels.

Is this reasonable? Is it necessary? Probably not, but it is a reality. As someone who is self-employed, I have no support staff to pick up the slack, to decide whether this incoming message or request demands immediate attention or not. I need to look at them myself.

Yes, I can hear the argument JC would make in response to that! It’s in TAW. Maybe this would be easier if the book specifically addressed the demands of email, which was not an issue 15 years ago. Maybe not.

On the upside, publishing is less demanding in terms of connectivity than many other businesses. Very little happens in publishing on Mondays and Fridays. Nothing happens on the weekends or after eight o’clock at night during the week. Very little happens in July and even less in August. This might be because industry people need time to read. And finally, there tends not to be as much urgency in publishing as in other businesses. Deadlines for production etc. are set out long in advance, with buffer time built in. On the other hand, there are industry people who manage their time less well – or maybe who like the thrill of pressure – and when you work with one of these people, there will be crises aplenty cropping up unexpectedly, needing to be resolved immediately.

Maybe I’m leery of dropping offline for a week because I’ve worked with a number of such people over the years!

But, I’m not working with any now.

So, I didn’t manage a complete turn-off, but I did set some parameters. I’m getting used to respecting those self-imposed guidelines, which is an improvement in time management. I tend to work in the mornings, for example, but if I go online before that, I do work less effectively. I get distracted. JC is right about that. So, I’m trying to not pick up email until after my work for the day is done. Maybe that’s noon. Maybe it’s close of business.

I also realized that I was hitting my time sink sites in order to avoid working – on my “bad day”, I compelled myself to log off, then write for an hour, making a deal with myself that it didn’t matter if I wrote garbage. Well, butt-in-chair worked beautifully. I wrote almost 5000 words, stayed there an hour longer than expected without realizing it, and it wasn’t garbage at all. In fact, it was a lot of fun. I love what fell out of my fingertips that day! I trusted in the process and just put my fingertips on the keyboard, without knowing what came next. It worked like a charm. There was my positive reinforcement for avoiding my time sinks.

I get it!

In summary, I was more productive last week, and not just with writing. I got a ton of other things done too. And I think this new balance with the internet is sustainable for longer than a week. Overall, I’m pleased although JC would probably wag her finger at me for “cheating”.

How about you? How did you do with media deprivation week? Did you have any revelations or make any changes?