My inbox is a much happier place since I stopped getting notifications whenever someone comments on the blog. I still try to catch the comments and reply as required, but instead of responding to them as they come in, I now have "blogging time." The notifications were interruptions.
BTW, I turned off email notifications years ago. An even bigger distraction.
What’s distracting you? What are you receiving that makes you lose your rhythm? What can you turn off or let go of?
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I know you’re right… They are a distraction … The whole blogging thing is a distraction, really. But I think one needs to decide when to spend time painting and when to spend time blogging or doing any other non-paint activity. At some point it’s good to get up from painting and step away to something different. Certainly if the notices distract you to the point where you lose concentration you should have the darn computer turned on in the first place! It’s just another of those frustrating “life balancing” tricks one deals with on the journey!
I like the blog email notifications, but I don’t like all the spam I get. Some are easy to weed through, but I still scan the subject line of all to make sure I’m not missing a legit email – it’s happened. I get a lot of requests for glaze recipes that I use and while I’m glad to share, it takes time to answer these. I’m going to be adding a glaze recipe page on my website so I won’t have to cut and paste another recipe and answer additional emails.
Cynthia: Do what I did and say that you’ll answer those on the blog. That gives you blog posts for the future and benefits all of your readers. Make it a policy.