I decided to be ruthless. Elimination was the only option. Quite simply, the day was too short. Now I'm a father, I am forced to stop whatever I'm doing at six in the evening and fetch my son from his nounou. After that, getting any work done before he goes to sleep is out of the question. And my wife is home by then, so it's time to talk and eat and drink wine.
I tried to win a couple of hours back by getting up earlier. But nappy changing beckoned. So I saved time by changing my email habits. I try to limit emailing to first thing in the morning, just before lunch, and in the evening. I've also tried to curtail my newsletter addiction (not to the Stratégies one, of course). Now I've defeated the time vampires, maybe I can get some writing done.
Trouble is, I still need to read the news. But rather than reading four or five newsletters, I prefer to get updates on my phone. I read the sentence ("Oh, Joe Pytka is heading the Film Craft jury - that's cool") and then get right back to my work. These short snacks of information suit my lifestyle right now. I'm sure many media companies are finding that I'm not alone. Ironically, the advertising industry has turned away from "interruptive media", in the form of the 30 seconds spot, to create branded entertainment. But journalism is adopting an interruptive approach. The media world is being turned upside down.
