My efforts to control my inbox have failed and I've resorted to setting a concrete challenge to bring some order back to the chaos. For the month of March (and hopefully beyond), I've set a personal challenge for myself to not check any work emails on Saturdays. An entirely email-free weekend is not yet an option, as most of SoJo team member work over the weekends; and being able to respond to messages on Sunday is necessary to ensure I am not a bottleneck. As a rule however, no external emails will be sent over the weekend. Work-life balance is important, and we need to lead by example.

In addition to setting a good precedent, I'm excited to mentally unplug and have some space to breathe. I will still give myself permission to do SoJo-related activities, however having the discipline to not consult my inbox will allow me to take a step back, relax the mind, and disconnect - all of which will make this journey feel more human.

So what will I do on my first email-free Saturday? Do something I haven't done in a very long time -- read a book!

This is the first of many challenges. By setting a specific challenge with a very clear actionable task and publicizing it on this blog, I am hoping this will hold me accountable to delivering on this challenge.

Feel free to follow our challenges or set your own. When creating a challenge, be sure to share it publicly: whether it be online over Twitter, on your blog, or in an email to your team-members. Physically writing out the challenge (with a clear deliverable that is timebound) and sharing it will make you more likely to follow-through on it.