The short answer?  

I chose not to.

The longer and more “peek behind the curtain” answer is this:

When I first put finger to keyboard to start writing daily emails, I decided to write on weekdays rather than go the full shebang and write 7 days a week. Weekdays felt like the right balance to me.

For the last three years, I’ve mostly kept that up come rain or shine, burnout or enlightenment.

But I’ve realised something recently. 

Something I keep realising, forgetting, remembering, then forgetting again.

That something?

Just because I have the option doesn’t mean I need to take that option.

There’s always a choice.

Truth be told, in the first 13 years of my banking career, it didn’t look like I did have a choice when it came to work. If there was stuff on my to-do list and working a few hours was an option, I’d snaffle that option like it was already a done deal.

If I’m being honest, maybe a bit of this has crept into my daily emails too.

Maybe I’ve been guilty of telling myself “well, you said you were going to write week-daily Tom, so you better keep at it”.

But I don’t have to.

I can choose each and every day whether to write an email that day. Even if I’ve committed to writing daily, even if I have the time and even if I know I’ll enjoy writing the email, I still don't have to.

So when it came to the last couple of weeks, I checked in with myself and asked “Do I want to write daily emails?” 

And yes, Lauren and I were away for a few days. Yes, work's been flat out. And yes, there's plenty of baby upkeep to be getting on with around Fort Grundy. But none of these were the reason I paused writing. After all, these things haven't stopped me writing my daily emails in the past. 

Instead, the answer to the question "do I want to write?" came back "no" and that was that.

Today the answer is different and here we are.

Anyway, I can’t help think this distinction sits at the heart of a lot of life’s woes.

Just because we can check our work emails over the weekend, take on extra work or squeeze in one more thing doesn’t mean we need to. Even if we're in the habit of doing so.

If you’d like someone in your corner to help you spot the difference between what you can do and what you’d actually like to do, my coaching could be just the ticket.

More info here:

https://waitinglist.followingfulfilment.com