Arianna Huffington: “Being Tired” Has Become an Epidemic

Huffington a selfproclaimed sleep evangelist stated that while businesses may operate 247 no one individual can do so amp8220Being tired has become the new normalamp8221 Huffington notedTruth be told Huffington gave a very similar speech when she delivered my sisteramp8217s high school commencement address several years ago suggesting that from age 18 on lack of sleep is a common area of interest so live it up now you preteen night owlsHuffington was far more resonant this time around Not only because I am more tired now than I was back when my sister graduated but because I have gained more insight into the working worldWe amp8220glamorize lack of sleepamp8221 explained Huffington This is a point duly noted in many a conversation with my young working cohorts It seems that whenever discussing our jobs the one with the most hours worked wins amp8220I was at the office until 9 last nightamp8221 remarks one friend Another chimes in amp8220I was there until 11amp8221 amp8220I got out at 8 but went in at 6 this morning and am working Saturdayamp8221 And we have a winnerIs this a game I want to play Donamp8217t pass go donamp8217t collect 200 just keep working as long as you are physically capable I think Huffington is right amp8211 when competing in this way we are sacrificing productivity creativity and effectivenessNo doubt a good employee is dedicated to doing the best job possible but business expectations are higher than ever before A friend of mine in marketing expressed that she feels constantly oncall as a result of a recent promotion and relocation to New York Huffington advocated that we need to move from being amp8220necessaryamp8221 to becoming amp8220indispensableamp8221So does that indispensability apply to all hours of the day How different it must have been to be part of a working world without email cell phones and WiFi We are constantly connected to work making those few precious hours of sleep the only time when we are truly offlineThere are of course those moments when we do find ourselves off the grid and we are met with both freedom and anxiety Earlier this summer in the far reaches of Long Islandamp8217s east end I recognized my limited cell service made me inaccessible by email I was a little panicky about this as I am about most things truthfullyamp160 In the event that I was needed on email between Friday and Sunday how could I communicate my unreachability Cue the smoke signalBefore we bemoan the sad fate of sleepless nights and a business world with no offswitch letamp8217s turn our attention back to Arianna Huffington who has one of the best solutions yetAt the Audience Measurement conference Huffington unveiled a new optin email deletion policy for Huffington Post employees If they choose they can set up their email so that when out of office the automatic reply delivered to senders reads something like this amp8220Jane Smith is on vacation this week The email you sent her will be automatically deleted Please resend when she is back next weekamp8221 Accompanied with the appropriate contacts for urgent requests of courseNote that Huffington credits German automaker Daimler AG for this innovation props to them This revolutionary email policy validates an employeeamp8217s right to be out of office not in the figurative sense of the meaningless acronym amp8220OOOamp8221 but truly amp8220out of officeamp8221 as in not responsiveTo cite just one more personal anecdote last May just as we were marking our oneyear anniversary in the real world my two college friends and I vacationed in Miami Of our group I was the only one without a work phone My friends both in PR toted matching blackberriesYet we all faced the same existential crisis Do we a check our work email remotely on our vacation which could lead to resultant stress and anxiety or b check our email when we return to work when the sheer breadth of unread emails could lead to resultant stress and anxiety We went with option A Of course there is something to be said for our genuine interest and curiosity in what was going on in the office when we were not thereAnd so as we enter the dog days of summer let us reflect on the luxury of sleep and our right to be unreachable It is exciting that Arianna Huffington has made it one of her purposes to preach to the choir on this issue Now if we can just find the solution to amp8220calling it a dayamp8221 and actually meaning itThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillage management or associated bloggersamp160

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Arianna Huffington: “Being Tired” Has Become an Epidemic

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"About That with Carl Mayer:" Alaina Donnellon (Episode 10: Political Spending) - By Carl Mayer

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Arianna Huffington: “Being Tired” Has Become an Epidemic

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