100 Days of being an actress: Don’t let my inbox become the mistress of me!

Do you let your day and workflow be dictated by your email inbox, post and telephone calls? I have a long list of stuff to do from updating my showreel and doing a voice reel to reconnecting with those I met at Cannes and the sheer weight of what to do is oppressive.
I do know that I cannot let my seriously bloated inbox be the master or mistress of my life. I have checked my main professional email account daily but it’s all the old email addresses that need clearing out. In times past that would have been my first priority but I no longer allow my inbox to dictate my work flow. I decide on my priorities and then go from there, if I don’t get to my inbox for another week it is fine. If anything is urgent someone will call me I am sure.
Nelson Mandela had the following words of the great poem Invictus in his cell  Full poem and details here

 I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul

I have to remind myself of that each morning as I do that freelance creative thing of getting up and having to structure my own days when I am not on set actually ‘working’
I loosely do the GTD system, Getting Things Done by David Allen, and it is through implementing that system that I finally got my inbox down to zero! However the weekly GTD refresh is where I fall by the wayside, it is where you stop everything to re look at what is outstanding in all areas of your life.

I have learnt though that choosing to look first at my list of what I need to get done, from odd letters, calls and my work priorities is far better than turning on my computer into the morning and allowing what appears in front of me to take first priority. See my post on GTD and Joss Whedon for how it can work, Here
As creatives it is even more important to give ourselves time to

• practise
• improve
• do our work
• update our social media
• Reconnect with our network
• Keep our finger to the pulse
• Dream
• Make big plans and take actions to make them happen.

As creative people from actors, filmmakers, musicians and artists we are normally also the following in our lives:

• Bookkeepers
• Finance manager
• Press
• Creator
• Marketer
• Health and nutrition coach
• People in relationships. ~ family, friends
• Managing Director of our own company
• Sales person
• Social media expert

So allowing our inbox and the calls we get to run our lives limits the time we have to carve our own career. I love the imagery of carving a sculpture here, a step here, a nick there, a choice of location and who we hang out with, the tools we use.
For me the GTD question

What next? is the best way to get over the drama and fear of the next project and get me moving. So switch on your inbox only when you are ready to send an email!

If you want to get involved with this project of tracking the next 100 days of being an actor, singer, writer, film-maker, painter etc then here are the full details. 100 days of being a creative here

Or just start today, use the hashtag #100days So please do one thing for your creative career today and I’d love to hear comments and feedback.