Tuesday, September 30, 2014

The 5:06 email. That's 5:06 AM


Nothing good happens after midnight.  Everyone's mother said so.  And there is evidence to back up the claim:  If someone knocks on the door at four in the morning, it will not be to deliver good news; one time, the person knocking returned mom, who wandered off when her illness was really taking root.  A 3:18 phone call is never social, either, unless your friends include bail bondsmen.  But what to do with a 24/7 technology-driven communication environment that bends conventional notions of time?  Particularly when it's your name on the shingle? 
 
Time is much more fluid when you are your own boss. This is called The Accidental Entrepreneur for a reason.  Like anything new, working for yourself has a learning curve and one aspect of that is realizing that time is the thing over which you have the greatest control.  Think about it - in a corporate setting, the day starts at a set time and usually ends in the same fashion.  Yes, I know there the exceptions of flex time or telecommuting but, again, they are exceptions.  The rule for most of the workforce is that butts are expected in chairs at an appointed hour.

If you have an idea or a thought at five in the morning, you are far more likely to act on it - to contact a vendor, to send out an email or tweet, or to research something that clearly cannot wait till morning.  I saw this from customers in a previous professional life, when I worked a pre-set schedule.  Emails with unusual time stamps were not uncommon and invariably, they were came from people who ran their own shops.     
For many of us, there is a familiar tone to late night work, whether it evokes memories of an all-nighter in college or facing a professional deadline.  The dawn patrol, meanwhile, is largely learned behavior.

Like many of you, I found the concept of 8 a-m classes in college practically inhuman, a barbaric ritual concocted by university staff and faculty in conjunction with distant parents to be sure their progeny was productive, or something like it, at a "respectable" hour.  Then we graduated.  My professional life began with a brief stint working evenings, followed by an abrupt change.  The new duty time was 4:30.  No, the other one, the one where some folks are wandering home after those un-good things mom warned about.  It was an experience that turned 8 a-m into lunchtime.  By the way, people will look at you twice when you're eating spaghetti or the previous night's leftovers while they're getting their first cup of coffee.

So, as you sift through that overnight mail, somewhere between learning that a Russian bride has found you and the unexpected deposit to your account that is only a click away, there may be some actionable items.  While not overnight, this line came came right after Jamaal Charles scored his second touchdown for the Chiefs during the Monday night game but before Shane Vereen carried for the Patriots.  Is Shane related to Ben?  Turns out he is, in a distance way, not quite as distant as Tom Brady to a fictional Mike Brady, but distant nonetheless.  Would someone doing this on a 9-to-5 schedule regale you with equally useless nuggets?



           








 

   

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