It’s no mystery to anyone – life is hard right now, and getting through the workday amidst all the chaos is even harder. Simple tasks that used to be a breeze feel like they take up so much mental energy now, and that’s expected. But is it a common experience for people to take six hours to write a three-sentence email or is that just a “you” thing? Take this quiz to find out!
When you finally send your email, how long is it until you get a response?
- Usually, I hear back in an hour or two. Less if they’re online.
- I usually don’t hear back until the next day and sometimes have to send a follow-up message to make sure they received my first email.
When you join a meeting, what is everyone else usually working on?
- They’re all making progress on their individual projects and meeting deadlines.
- Our meetings are chaos and everyone kind of bs’s what they’ve done with their free time.
Has anyone brought up your time management to you?
- Yeah, my boss sent me a message over slack yesterday that read, “hey, what have you been doing the past couple of weeks? Other than working out your timesheet with HR over email?”
- No, I think my boss is slowly losing their mind and has more or less checked out as well.
What did your email finally say?
- “Hi, I’m so sorry it took so long to respond. Please forgive me. I will finish that project tomorrow sorry it’s been 6 weeks past the deadline; please don’t fire me,”
- “Hi, sorry for the delay in response, I hope you are well too. Don’t worry about responding immediately as this is not urgent, but could you send me those materials we talked about earlier? Again no rush at all, please take your time.”
Results:
Mostly A’s: Unfortunately, it seems like it’s just you that needs 6 hours to write an incredibly short email. Maybe everyone at your company is throwing themselves into work or is just incredibly good at compartmentalizing. You’re probably extremely behind on work, but don’t be too hard on yourself. Life sucks especially hard right now! Take a day off if you can and see what that does for you!
Mostly B’s: Everyone is suffering, and no one is able to function normally right now. Luckily, you’re not alone, and everyone seems to have slowed down right now. Maybe you should still take a day off for a little mental reset.
