Energy flows out

Why is it so exhausting writing emails all day? I remember wondering this at my former job. I recall the incredible energy it took to control all those client requests, brief the team, answer questions by IM, prioritize, write emails with materials to review, pass along feedback, answer the phone in the midst of it all, and just keep it all together.

This job is the same. Even though I am the client, I have to take requests, explain things, argue for and barrack for things, prioritize constantly, interrupt phone calls to answer emails coming in, interrupt emails to answer phone calls, smile at people who come to my door, smile at people in the hall and on the elevators. Today I spent all day preparing a big presentation, getting the PowerPoint all done and memorizing the transitions, and then the meeting was postponed anyway because the seniormost person had a conflict. Tonight I am supposed to be checking four emails to make sure they made all the corrections I sent through yesterday, and then also making a list of topics to talk to my IT guy about tomorrow. And I am just shattered, and am not sure how I am going to manage it.

I remember a friend asking this question about term papers. She was taking a course and had to write a four-page essay. It was taking days, and she was stressing out about it. I remember her saying, "I can write a four-page letter in no time, why is this so much harder?" I think it's the same kind of thing, why spending all day writing emails and PowerPoints is hard. It's all communication flowing out. You have to set your message and then think of how to communicate to the other person, and craft it and check it and make sure it will be clear and persuasive, and make sure you've got your priorities right and timing and everything, and it's all energy out, so it's tiring and draining. That is my theory.

What you need to balance it is pure entertainment - energy in. Just passive receipt of stimulation, images, experiences.

Which is why, I think, seniorish managers like myself come home from a long day and just veg out in front of the television. This is my theory.