I did something big this week.

Well, to me [a.k.a #highfunctioninganxiety], … it’s big.  To anyone else, I imagine you’ll be like, … it took you 3.95 years to hop off your company’s e-mails [?!], but it did, and I’ll be honest, my departure from our TDP hello@ e-mail inbox hasn’t been glamorous, i.e I’ve acknowledged that it’s finally time to come off for x2 reasons;

1. It puts me in a bluddy bad mood, and,
2. I think I’m helping out by replying to as many e-mails as I can [our inbox is overwhelming, particularly with countless.requests.for.free, i.e speaking gigs, workshops, NFP stuff [when we genuinely already do so much pro bono in the NFP space], can you manage our social media for free because I have this completely amazing company with a gazillion followers and the exposure alone would make it worth your while, … you get the gist].  So I think I’m helping, and I hop onto as many e-mails as possible with the good intentions to reduce our Studio Management team’s inbox overwhelm, … but I ruin their systems, and I file e-mails away thinking it’s all a-ok, and then we miss important things.

So? I’ve resigned from inbox management.

It’s time.  It’s been 3.95 years.  It’s making me angry, and bitter, because I’m distracted by the countless rude e-mails [“hi, I sent an enquiry 35 minutes ago, and I haven’t received a response yet?”, or “I received your proposal for social media management, can you take your figure, halve it, and halve it again?”, and I’m subsequently forgetting the incredible stuff; like our TDP graduate community, or the thank you’s, or the incredible shoutouts we get on various podcasts, or the little love notes people send us 12 months post-TDP workshop that tell us how much of a positive impact our workshop made on their business etc.

I can’t even tell you why I’ve been hanging onto the inbox; perfectionism? OCD? #highfunctioninganxiety? An inability to “let it goooooooooo”? … I dunno, ha!

Y’see? I tell myself [read: kid myself] that I “need” to stay in our hello@ inbox, because I track workshop sales there, and it gives me a good sense of what’s working / not working / tracking well / tanking, etc. etc., but I don’t need that, because we have spreadsheets that do all of that, … and don’t completely sap productivity / put you in a foul mood on a Friday afternoon when you’re trying to be “in the moment” at your son’s school assembly / change your entire mood for the day from one.single.e-mail.

It’s time.

It’s literally time.

There’s never been a better time, actually.

We have our full-time Studio Manager all.over.it, plus our brand newbie [and total gun] Studio Assistant, and so with that? I’mma drive off into that inbox sunset, a la Thelma & Louise, … and enjoy the next chapter of TDP’s progression, i.e life without inbox management.

I hope something equally as lovely is somewhere on your small business owner horizon too.