Time is on my side, yes it is.

During my two months in Asia, I was usually 12 hours ahead of the east coast, which meant that I would wake up as my hometown partners were wrapping up their work days. Having every email of the day in front of me to tackle at once was great for scheduling my priorities and focusing on getting it all done before heading out and living my day. Counter this with the tedious trickle of email that comes in as you refresh throughout the day – chunking out your work is clearly the productively superior way to attack the day. Seeing as I typically don't work on demand (I've instituted fees for such requests), there's no email I'm going to receive that's time sensitive within 12 hours of receipt. If you habituate your clients to expect instant responses, that's the cycle you're stuck in – one that's particularly problematic if you ever travel to other time zones, drive your car a long distance or go to the dentist.

Another time-related revelation: my first week home I was jetlagged, waking up at 4:30am every day. WOW. The work I was able to churn out between 5–9am was amazing. No calls, emails, chats or texts coming in and that general peace and quiet of pre-dawn. Then, from 9am to 11am I'd do all my admin stuff: making phone calls, running errands, and BOOM! From noon on, the day was mine. Truly, it was like I was given a whole new day within my day. Sadly, I've fallen back into my pre-Asia ways, and am craving those morning power hours.