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I am currently conducting an experiment in time-management. A number of personal and work-related reasons have made it difficult for me to check my e-mail as regularly as I would like. Because I get a lot of e-mail (several hundred messages is a relatively light day for me), this has been difficult for me.

Until just recently, my coping strategy was simply to wait until I got home from work to check my mail. This proved to be very unpopular with my core constituents, namely my wife and daughter, so I have to come up with an idea that I hope will work better.

My plan for now is to resist turning my computer on in the evenings, leaving only the morning hours before I leave for work for e-mail, browsing, and whatever else I might do with a computer. My thinking is that if I know that I only have a short period of time each day in which to handle all of my online dealings, I will come to the task prepared to make the best use of the time I’ve allowed myself.  It’s partly inspired by the Pickle-Jar Theory, partly by Dale Carnegie’s idea of ”day-tight containers”. After years of allowing myself “just a quick check” to see if I have new e-mail (and I almost always do), it will take some discipline to wean myself from this pattern (which almost invariably ends up resulting in far more time spent online that I had originally planned). I don’t think it will be an enjoyable experience, but I’m confident that I can break the habit.

My wife, on the other hand, is not so sure. She’s of the opinion that people don’t—or can’t, I’m not sure which—change their habits. I suspect that her background in linguistics has left her too inclined to believe in the fossilization of habits. I think it’s beneficial to strive to reexamine your habits every once in a while, if only to see if they still suit you. As far as I can tell, though, she seems convinced that once you acquire a habit, barring any significant aversion-inducing incident, you are stuck with it. Period.

I suppose only time will tell if my “mail-free PM” schedule will work or not, but what are your thoughts? Have you ever had a habit that you have simply chosen to give up? Chosen to have?