jpberthiaume's posterous

13 | Checking Email from the Beach
It’s all about “work-life balance.” In other words, the more efficient you are at your required work tasks and life tasks, the more time you have free for genuine relaxation and enjoyment of life. That’s why, if you have pockets of down time that don’t allow for sustained relaxation, you should try to find ways to fill those pockets with some sort of useful activity.

Yes, that does mean you should do things like check your email during a fifteen minute downtime on a Saturday. Doing that, however, frees you up to spend more sustained time involved in activities you care about later. The more efficient your tools are, the easier it is to do these microbursts of tasks.

Nice review of the book, and great little summary of the chapters. I agree about this #13. While the ability to do many things anywhere can be a problem at times, it also can prevent distractions later on when people wonder why you aren't getting their emails. Spend 10 minutes earlier in the day letting someone know when you can work on a task and it might save you a half hour of working on it when you can least afford to (like when trying to get your child down for a nap).