Hello there,

Welcome along. Thanks for all the encouragement and feedback about the book - a quick reminder that the official launch will be taking place at Antenna on Monday 18 July at 6pm (more details by clicking here). It's free, all are welcome and I'm looking forward to meeting up with new and old friends there.

Clearing out the mental clutter

This week I've been busily unsubscribing from newsletters and updating settings to reduce the number of emails I get.This could be a risky way to start my newsletter. But before you scroll straight to the bottom to press "unsubscribe", bear with me.

Like most people, over time I've been receiving more emails, some a result of just one online purchase. Even though I deleted them, it did mean my head was fleetingly filled with doormats, clothes, stationery, breakfast cereal and vacuum cleaner bags before I settled down to work. (That could explain some of my output.) Then there was the "nearly work" category - new courses or books; interesting-ish threads of conversation on linkedin; news of events.

I've now decided that they have to fit the William Morris principle to stay in ie. they have to be beautiful (well, at least pleasing) or useful to earn their keep. And yes - this newsletter should be subject to the same test. Of course I hope it's both of those things but you may think otherwise.

So what has survived this process? The Woman's Hour newsletter (weekly, always entertaining); weekly digests of linkedin groups that I find helpful; professional or networking newsletters for organisations that I enjoy working with; and clothes retailers that I can only afford when they do massive sales.

It feels cathartic. What comes into the inbox now is much more likely to be something I truly want or need to read about.

One of the chapters in the book is about mental breaks - somewhat controversially I started it with a letter to my husband's i-phone. After a long pause while I waited for him to read it, I could breathe again once he said (far too late in the publishing process for me to change it) "oh, it's not as bad as I thought it would be". Marriage intact, I stand by my view that we have to create our own boundaries these days to carve out mental space for ourselves. It's an ongoing conversation in our house. There is enough information to fill several lifetimes about - well - everything if we let it be indiscriminately thrown at us, or opt in to more sources than there are hours in the day to process.

Less is more in so many ways I think. I bumped into an old friend this week I had lost touch with, whilst at a meeting with someone else about the book. My friend took the copy home, read the whole thing in the evening and reported his reflections back the next day. He doesn't own a mobile phone at all, let alone a smart one with the whole world at his fingertips. But still holds down a senior professional job, has a family and plenty of friends and interests.

It's an isolated and probably rare example, and I wouldn't want to be without a phone. But it made me think. His powers of concentration seemed to be quite something in terms of the thoughtful and useful feedback he gave me in such a short period of time. So many of us (including me at times) seem so fragmented and torn in all directions, possibly unable to concentrate properly on anything much. It's not the fault of technology - but who's in charge, us or it?

A vital skill of modern life, with all its stuff, is being selective. Deciding what to throw out. Or choosing what stuff to let in in the first place. Physically or mentally. Quantity and quality count - an overload of quality information is still an overload.

Ok. Now you can hit the unsubscribe button if you want to. Beautiful or useful?

Please just let me know what would have made it one or other if the answer is neither.

Have a good weekend all. Speaking of mental breaks, I'm still managing to more or less stick to my resolution not to turn the computer on at all on a Sunday - it does seem to be working as something of a weekly brain de-frag.
 

Sarah (Dale)
Latest blog posts: How (and why) I self-published and Is stress good for you?
Guest interview on a great blog for avid readers - Tales from the Reading Room
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