Email and Loathing in Berlin: A Tempo Story
I guess it’s a little strange that the very first post on the Tempo blog isn’t about Tempo. Kind of. Nor is it about productivity tips, as I’m no productivity expert. But, what I am, is pretty good at talking about myself. And, to be honest, I think this is the best way for me to explain what we’re doing, why we’re doing it, and why I joined the Tempo team in the first place.
I, like many others out there, suffer from a variety of mental health issues. More and more are becoming evident as I grow older; OCD, GAD, imposter syndrome, body dysmorphia, stress. A full-blown smorgasbord that I eat up morning, noon, and night. One of the many little brain niggles would be the constant obsession of checking my work email on weekends and getting the fear during the Monday morning commute. Trust me, the commute in Berlin is enough to turn your anxiety up to eleven, but throwing in the dread of having to check your Inbox, full to the brim of unread emails, is a recipe for disaster. Luckily, no one blinks an eyelid in Berlin if you decide to down a bottle of Jägermeister at 9:30 am.
How Many Unread Emails?
You see, I was that person with an Inbox with five figures’ worth of unread emails. I knew what was important and what was not, but dang, it looks pretty bad for someone in communications. It’s only email, I know, but it would still keep me awake at night. That was also probably down to my cat looking for attention at 3 am. Actually, email is a pretty funny name for a cat.
After five years at my previous role, I needed to change things up and find something that I could genuinely believe in. Then I found out about this small team in Berlin called Tempo, working on an email app that would help users to overcome the burdens of email, yet, focus on the importance of communication. I liked that idea. Needless to say, here I am working at Tempo, writing this relatively self-involved blog post.
No Gods, No Masters.
Throughout the years, I’ve been a part of punk and niche music communities, where passion comes before profit, independence is a must, work ethic is very much DIY, and community is imperative. I missed this in my daily life, but have now found this same feeling at Tempo. We all share the same vision and drive to create something niche for a handful of like-minded people.
For me, it’s not about being as efficient or as fast as possible. It’s about tackling the feeling of being overwhelmed and offering a dedicated, real user experience.
If at least one person feels better by using Tempo, we’ve done our job.
