Aristos Queue Posted February 11, 2015 Report Share Posted February 11, 2015 (edited) I come into work every day to a small number, around 10, of e-mails from the parts of NI that are awake while I sleep. I have realized that the entire tone of my day changes based on the nature of those e-mails. If they are things I can delete without answering, no effect. If they are things that require me to do lots of research or commit me to do work or require long winded answers, I feel like I've gotten a slow start to the day and my whole energy level drops. But if they are things that just require a sentence or two and my reply somehow unlocks the person at the other end to do their work, it's this amazing confidence boost. "I've got something done already, and someone else thought my input was important enough to ask." It's ridiculous that this should matter so significantly, but I started really looking at this trend last week, and it really does change my day. Even now that I'm aware of it, the effect occurs, but the negative effect is tamped down while the positive effect is increased. I think that's because I now have a bit more apprehension about the first e-mail check of the morning, so the relief of finding "easy reply" e-mails seems to have increased, but finding "hard reply" e-mails I can now shrug off. Human psychology is weird (or at least mine, which is one data point for the rest of you). What does this mean to you folks? Well, first, it might make you more aware of this effect in your own lives, maybe increasing the positive and decreasing the negative. But, second, please only ask me hard questions between noon and 4pm, so I can deal with them before I leave in the evening. :-) Edited February 11, 2015 by Aristos Queue 1 Quote Link to comment
Darren Posted February 11, 2015 Report Share Posted February 11, 2015 Note to self: lob softballs at AQ's inbox early in the day, so he'll be happy when I ask him tougher questions later. Got it. 1 Quote Link to comment
hooovahh Posted February 11, 2015 Report Share Posted February 11, 2015 Yeah for me it is my morning routine to check LAVA and the NI forums. I'll spend a few minutes seeing if there are people I can help, and similarly if I can solve some peoples problems, or make some demo code of what the poster was thinking of it brightens my day a bit. Quote Link to comment
crossrulz Posted February 11, 2015 Report Share Posted February 11, 2015 Nothing quite like starting the day off answering people's problems. And nothing sets that mood back like your boss yelling at you for not doing something even though you actually did it a week or two ago. Quote Link to comment
Popular Post Neil Pate Posted February 11, 2015 Popular Post Report Share Posted February 11, 2015 This morning I started off the day by destroying a bathroom door with an axe to help release a friend who had gotten trapped by a dodgy door handle. Without a doubt the most cathartic way I have ever started a Wednesday morning... 4 Quote Link to comment
Jordan Kuehn Posted February 11, 2015 Report Share Posted February 11, 2015 This morning I started off the day by destroying a bathroom... Not the way I expected this sentence to end. 1 Quote Link to comment
Neil Pate Posted February 12, 2015 Report Share Posted February 12, 2015 Not the way I expected this sentence to end. I would not have been so proud had the sentence ended the way you perhaps expected it to... Quote Link to comment
Tim_S Posted February 12, 2015 Report Share Posted February 12, 2015 ...a dodgy door handle. At first I read that as doggy. 1 Quote Link to comment
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