So six days ago I decided that I was going to go offline. Went on a personal trip and left the laptop at home. I had my smart phone but did not really use it beyond coordinating movements with the folks I has hanging out with. Being offline created quite a bit of free time. So what did I do with it?

I engaged. With the people I was with face to face. Instead of checking messages in the lift line or on the chair or in the bar I had great conversations with family and good friends.

I read. Two books over the past six days which is about two more than I have read in the past six months. I read 127 Hours: Between a Rock and a Hard Place, Aron Ralston's autobiography. Ralston is forced to amputate his own arm with a cheap multi-tool knife in order to free himself after becoming trapped by a boulder in a slot canyon. Gruesome and intriguing. I also read Jane Smiley's latest The Man Who Invented the Computer. This is the biography of John Atanasoff, an Iowa State University professor that Smiley claims to have built the first computer prototype. While many of the reviews question the historical accuracy of the book it is a fascinating read.

I relaxed. Really. Did not think of work related stuff much at all and when someone asked Abby steered the conversation away.

It was a great six days.

And then I returned. I returned to 662 new emails that I have reduced to just 10 in the past 24 hours. Many of them were duplicate requests or notes notifying me that the issue had already been resolved. Lesson, time takes care of a lot of urgent email requests.

Nine LinkedIn requests. Lesson, people that don't know you very well try to connect all the time.

Six new ATDC companies that I had to manually process. Lesson, automate.

Put on one committee. Lesson, other people commit you to work regardless of if you agree to it or not.

The real lesson, leave your laptop at home when you go away.