just tristan.

@tristanwalker. foursquare biz dev. graduate of stanford business school. i do some other stuff too.

• i hate email.

  Recently, I had the good fortune to catch up with a friend, Harj (Partner at Y-Combinator). Of course, we talked about how busy we were and usually these types of conversations pivot into a vent about how email sucks (and our inability yo keep up with the deluge). He advised me to try something he did recently: he deleted all email accounts from his iPhone.
  
  When he first told me that he deleted all email accounts from his phone, I thought he was crazy.
  
  In January ‘11 I committed to keeping my phone on silent so I wouldn’t get distracted by the vibrations and sounds caused by incoming calls, texts, tweets, etc. It helped, but not that much. The problem was not only the amount of calls, emails, etc that would come in but also my anxiety about the emails that “wouldn’t” come in.
  
  Let me explain.  I’m an “inbox zero” person. If there are any emails in my inbox at the end of the day, I’ll go crazy. That said, I’d find my self constantly refreshing my inboxes on my iPhone (just because I could) even if I wasn’t expecting any emails. Anxiety….I try my absolute best to reply to most of my emails (hundreds a day)
  
  —-> a few unintended consequences of living “inbox zero”:
  
  

  • It became more and more difficult for me to focus and think in *complete* thoughts.
  • Every second (outside of work hours) I’m checking for emails is a second lost spending time with loved ones (and most importantly, my wife). We’ve have a rule at home “no laptops in the living room” so that we can spend uninterrupted time together….but then “smartphones happened”….and now we have an excuse to get around the “no laptop” rule. Change was necessary
  • Emailing while driving. Never a good idea. And using an iPhone doesn’t make emailing while driving any safer

  Anyone who knows me knows I’m never more than 3 feet away from my phone  emailing away so it’s no wonder why i thought Harj’s suggestion was crazy. Either way, I decided to give it a shot for one week.
  
  Result: I will never (ever) again put my email accounts on my phone. I also moved the mail icon app to the last iPhone screen. I’d encourage everyone to give it a try.
  
  Some pluses:

  • I was able to think in complete thoughts. I usually do a lot of conference calls while on the run so I’d usually have access to email an the ability to multitask. Without the option to read / respond to emails, the folks on the other side of my calls had my full attention. I remembered a hell of a lot more of the content on this week’s conference calls (sans taking notes) than I had on my calls for the past couple years. Win.
  • My wife was in DC this past week but for the two days she was with me (before she left) and during those times this week when I was with friends, they too had my (almost) total, uninterrupted attention (i didn’t exclude calls, texts etc). This is always a good thing. Win. We had some of the most interesting, fulfilling conversations I’ve had in a long while.
  • Weird benefit. I “look up” more (head high) when I walk. Checking emails while crossing the street is not safe….at all. Without access to email while mobile and with my head held high, I was made more aware of my surroundings. Flowers in full bloom mode in palo alto btw! Win.

  Seriously, I’d encourage you to give it a try. I promise you that you will not regret it. 

  12 Apr 2012 / 20 notes