It’s 11:11pm. I have 21 unread emails in my work inbox. Some of them were from 3-4 days ago. I don’t open emails (or I open and skim and mark as unread again) unless I can action on them. So this literally means, I have 21 things I need to do tomorrow, because emails that I don’t need to action on have already been read.

21 things are a lot of thing to do in a day. Not to mention, the other things I wrote down in a list earlier this week.

Depending on your work style, you might read an email and then jot down in a to-do list and tackle the task later. For me that has never worked. I’d jot something down and then promptly forget about it. I barely write notes as is. Modern day ADD demands that I only deal with what is in front of me, in a number no more than three.

So like I said, 21? That’s 7 times more than what I need. And it’s 11:19pm now, on a Thursday. Who knows what the number will be tomorrow.

It doesn’t so much cause me anxiety than just knowing I’m somehow not getting to what I need to get to, and that bothers me. It bothers me I’m leaving some client or a colleague hanging because I cannot get to the bottom of the list as the count keeps climbing as the minutes keep rolling.

So, let’s try this inbox 0 thing.

There are many, many tools out there that promises you’ll get to inbox 0. Well, fuck the tools. I don’t want something that is just re-arranging a pile of shit in a different configuration or a fancy shit bowtie but at the end of the day, it’s still a pile of shit with more shit on it than yesterday.

My job in a digital agency and in my specific role pretty much guarantee a full day of interruption. I don’t get to focus on one thing for very long, because that is the nature of my work. Clients need attention, colleagues have questions, meetings with 30 minute intervals in between. It is just not realistic for me to go hide in a corner somewhere so I can tend to my 21 emails.

So after some thoughts and reading on habits and focus, I’m going to try something out. Something quite beyond the core of my being and I am sure I will fight subconsciously and consciously for the next few weeks to come.

I’m going to wake up at 6am.

For everyone with children, feel free to roll your eyes all the way back into your head and start quietly or not so quietly lipping me off. I understand, your life does not allow you to sleep past 5:30am. I get it. But I don’t have children. I don’t have a pet that needs to go outside. What I have, is a really awesome bed and a demanding job and a late yoga practice. And YouTube. Netflix. Game of Thrones. I have all those things that prevent me from sleeping. I have all the reasons in the world to not sleep.

Inspired by this post, these are the reasons why I think waking up at 6am, versus staying at work until 8pm, might work:

At 6:30am, there is no one to talk to

More importantly, there is no one there who wants to talk to me.

By the time people come in, I’ve dealt with the 21 (or 51)

My role requires that I pay attention to my team. I can’t do that when I’m constantly distracted by the growing number of unreads, even if I do skim through. Attention taken away is attention taken away. Whoever told you multitasking works has been lying to you. You’re getting an overall C average when you can really get an A.

Staying late doesn’t work, for nobody

Unless you’re an island, which I am not, there are such things called.. work/life balance, or after work activities, which some of your friends might like to indulge in, with you, once in awhile. Staying late means you can’t do those things, but more importantly, that feeling of, “holy shit, why am I still here?” You know that feeling. It’s particularly powerful when the sun is setting and everything is in a golden haze. You can hear people outside and maybe restaurants slowly filling with people. The A/C in the office buzzes a little louder because fewer people are there. And you know what, YOU ARE STILL AT WORK. That split second of “what the HELL am I doing here” will very quickly turn into 1) resentment, 2) absolute speedy gonzales to finish your work, with or without quality, 3) exhaustion.

Tomorrow is Friday. I do contemplate starting this whole thing on Monday, as it’s more.. you know, proper. Sounds better. But then, why not start straight away? No better time than now.

Morning has never been my hour. The excuse I’ve given myself for the past 35 years has been that I am not a morning person. The flimsiness in that statement, “I am not a morning person”, almost sounds as stupid as “I don’t like the colour blue.” Only people who are irrational and childish dislike the colour blue. Blue, is an amazing colour.

11:41pm. I need to sleep. I will not watch Game of Thrones. And tomorrow, I will wake up at 6am. And then I will clear out those 21 goddamn emails, for the next 21 days to come.