Sometimes, I forget to eat lunch. So, 3:30 arrives, and I attack an infant-sized hillock of greasy takeout. I inhale it, scarcely breathing, a condemned man with minutes ‘til dawn.
Two minutes after stopping, yes; I feel like I’m going to die. Filled with regret and shrimp-induced torpor, I groan the empty promise of the glutton: “never again.”
What happened? How’d I miss when I’d had enough? I wonder the same thing about folks who check for new email every 5 minutes, follow 5,000 people on Twitter, or try to do anything sane with 500 RSS feeds.
Some graze unlimited bowls of information by choice. Others claim it’s a necessity of remaining employed, landing sales, or “staying in the loop.” Could be. What about you?
How do you know when you’ve had “enough?” Not everything, all the time, completely, forever. Just enough. Enough to start, finish, or simply maintain. Unfortunately, foodbabies only appear after it’s too late. And, if your satiety’s gauged solely by whether the buffet’s still open, you’re screwed.
Like the hypothalamus-damaged rat, you’ll eat until you die. Before the next buffet trip, consider asking, “How do I know what I need to know — just for now?” then savor every bite.
Merlin Mann is an independent writer, speaker, and broadcaster who’s based in San Francisco. He is the author of Inbox Zero, published next year by HarperStudio. If you’re checking for new email every five minutes, that’s 24,000 times a year.