When I was growing up I remember when they launched channel four on the TV.
Before that we had BBC 1, BBC 2 and ITV.
We used to wonder at the United States with 50 channels and now we have 5 million.
Maybe it’s just my age but if you’ve ever read these pages before you’ll know that I really struggle to drink from ‘the fire hose’.
So, I’m pretty much restricted to four channels and it pretty much goes like this.
Almost everyday that I wake up it’s to the vibration of the watch on my wrist.
It’s usually 6.30am.
I haul my old bones out of bed and shuffle downstairs and I pick up an aluminium saucer and a glass cup, put a pod in the Nespresso machine (terrible for the environment).
I make a full strength coffee and I sit in the little armchair in my kitchen/dining room beside my dog for just about 10 minutes.
I can see my back garden and everything is quiet and I check the channels.
The first one I check is Slack because it’s where The Campbell Clinic lives. I make sure there’s nothing dramatic to do with the guys who I feel are my responsibility (from a work perspective), check-in that all is well.
The next thing I check is texts because I’m old fashioned and that’s where I get a reasonable amount of my communication from.
The next thing is WhatsApp (I hate WhatsApp but I see it as a necessity) and I make sure it’s clear and there’s nothing urgent and finally I check the two email channels which are on one app.
I never, ever answer emails at that time in the morning, I only check if there’s anything that needs attention before my next session for answering emails (which is generally a Wednesday or a Friday).
It takes 10 minutes at the most and by the time I’m done it’s time for Isla and I to go for a walk (or if it’s a Tuesday or a Thursday for Carl and I to meet in the garage to pretend that we’re 25 years younger and do some press-ups).
I can’t really fathom adding any others channels into that.
All the news and attention I need would only ever come from those channels.
I’m sure your channels are different, using different apps or different means of communication. It’s just probably important to assess what they are and why they are and to make sure that they’re tools that you’re using to make things better and that you’re not the tool.
Blog Post Number - 2834