Don't Sweat the Inbox...
"If your business keeps you so busy that you have no time for anything else, there must be something wrong, either with you or with your business." - William J. H. Boetcker
Maybe I'm overdoing quotes just a bit, but the truth is, we often find something in them that pertains to us, and leads us to make better decisions. No matter the business, our habits can make or break our prosperity, and it couldn't be more true for the operations of an online store.
I've previously shared my detrimental mistake of being married to my work. It was nothing new. Even in high school I missed many dances, games and friendly gatherings (I even missed my senior yearbook signing party), all due to my desire to make money. After letting loose my first few years after high school, I transferred colleges and buckled down. I carried 22-24 hours a semester, a 4-hours per day intern position, and a job clocking me in at 20 hours a week. I graduated with a 3.93, but if you ask me about my social life back then, I'd say, "Huh?".
There comes a time when we become so wrapped up in our work that we forget about living. Eventually, everything collapses, business included, and we're left asking ourselves, "What the heck were we even working for?".
Workaholics. They're not much different than those with other addictions. Without the work, we can't function. It's one of the worst mistakes because it makes us miss the big picture and focus on many things that simply don't matter. We start projects on a whim, without thinking them through, and later find the pieces of them lying around doing nothing - making us no money and getting us no closer to success. We'll eventually learn how much our time is worth, then spend our days dwelling on all that is lost.
A former employer once told me, after I was complaining that I could never get my inbox cleared, "The day you come in and there's nothing on your to-do list is the day you no longer have a job." It took years for that to sink in, but when I got it I realized that my days would be much more productive if I spent just as much time enjoying life as I did working. My organizational skills were honed, I started working brighter and faster, and I made better decisions. If you read my last entry you'll have a better idea about what I mean.
No one gets rich overnight. Rarely do less-thought-out, quickly implemented plans get molded properly. Simply put, if you spend so much time working toward success that you have no time left for yourself, what makes you think you'll enjoy all the freedoms success brings when it finally hits?
If you're inbox is overloaded today, do work at it. Just don't sweat it if you can't get through it all. Take time for yourself and start back on it tomorrow. Ignore your quality of life and you'll live to resent what you ultimately build.
I might also recommend you take a little time to think about automating some of those tasks that take up so much of your time. Figure out what your time is worth, in dollars, then seek to invest wisely in either farming out or automating such responsibilities. You'll stand to reap far more rewards in the long run.
