Jeremy Cowart

Have you ever said this to yourself?

"What if I could have back all that money I've spent on eating at restaurants over the years?"

Replace "eating at restaurants" with whatever you want… clothes, movies, cars, you get it.

So what about time?

I always find myself saying "What if I could have back all that time I've spent sending emails?"

I've said this before on Twitter and I mean it.

I am a full-time emailer that sometimes takes photos.

Email is what I do all day. Literally. It's my ball and chain. I can never get around to doing what I want to do because of emails.

And don't hear me saying that I am sooooo popular. Cause I'm not. I don't get THAT many emails. I know a lot of people who send and receive a lot more emails than I do.

But it's enough to drive me crazy. Sometimes I feel like at the end of my life I'm going to say "Well…. I sure sent a lot of emails."

Maybe this is why I like Twitter so much. I swear 140 character limit was the greatest thing ever invented. It forces us to be short and sweet, doesn't it?

I'd be really scared to know how many hours I've spent over the last 10 years typing emails. And what do I have to show for it? What if all that time had been spent creating instead? (Yes, I know some of you will get technical in the comments and explain how my career would be nothing without all those emails and communication but you get the gist of what I'm saying. What if MOST of that time had been creating instead of talking about creating?)

It's interesting to wonder how productive the masters of art history would have been in the world of email and tweets. Would Picasso have produced 40,000 paintings? I doubt it.

I'll never be known for my email work and neither will you.

So here I am. To some extent, I'm done with emails. I realize I can't quit email all together. There's some work stuff that can't be ignored (and a lot of work stuff that actually can and should be ignored). Family. Close friends. And a few other things of course. But I've always been that guy that feels obligated to respond to nearly everything. That time has come to an end. So if you email me and I don't respond, PLEASE don't be offended. You are still awesome. I just want to spend more time away from my computer and more time with my wife and kids and pencils and paint and anything else that allows me to create.

I hope you'll consider joining me in the fight against The Great Time Vacuum.

Open Post