Hey {{ first name | there }}! Welcome back to The Flow by Flocus. If you’re new around here, welcome! 👋  You can catch up on our previous editions right here.

This week: Let’s talk about availability, and how easy it is to end up a little too reachable in daily life. Why protecting your time matters, how saying “no” can be a gift to yourself, and simple ways to protect your availability for what’s truly important. Scroll on for the scoop!

“Text or call me anytime — I’m always here if you need me!” / “My schedule’s wide open, so let’s go with whatever works best for you!”

How many people have you said this to? And how many times throughout your life?

Listen, keeping yourself open like this to hold space for your people isn’t strictly a bad thing.

It’s pretty admirable, actually. It shows how much you care and how committed you are to your relationships.

But here’s where it gets tricky: Even when you’re not actively responding or participating in these conversations, your brain is still on standby for them.

The more convos and interactions you’re staying open for, the less energy you have to spend on other things.

You already know how distracting each ping and notification is on its own. But think about all the background noise that happens for each one, too:

Oh, and it also leaves you less available for yourself.

Now that you know how ongoing and ambient availability impacts you, let’s explore some other ways it shows up in life.

Now that you know some sneaky ways that over-availability shows up, let’s talk about how to protect it without going totally off-grid.

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Now, here’s how to be a little less available in your day-to-day!

A hard truth of life is that you will need to stay available in certain situations — for example, if you’re the primary decision-maker for a family member with a chronic illness.

That’s an example of a non-negotiable that you’ll need to work around and communicate with others.

Be ruthless with these — just 1 or 2 non-negotiables is more than enough for most folks. (Remember, if everything is non-negotiable, then nothing is.)

We know this one’s easier said than done, but try to bucket your responses into the same timeframe (e.g., check messages on the half-hour, or twice a day).

If this isn’t feasible for you, try our next tip to respond effectively to the barrage of pings you receive each day.

Even on your best days, resisting the urge to check your messages or reply right away will be nearly impossible to resist.

To get better at it, create some 1-liners you can repeat. Saying them out loud will help you stick to them:

We’ve talked about startup and shutdown rituals before, where you follow the same routines when starting and ending work.

Integrate some focus boundaries as part of these — close tabs, silence your devices, change your environment. Even a small signal can cause a big shift in your ability to focus.

Being responsive is a choice, not your default setting.

Especially in a world where we’re inundated with dozens, if not hundreds, of conversations — not just in-person with our favorite people, but also online with acquaintances and even strangers.

Your brain simply isn’t wired to maintain as many relationships, let alone private conversations, as we’re expected to today.

So if you’re finding it hard to keep up, it’s not a personal failure. It’s just how we’re designed.

If you find it hard to be intentional or prioritize the interactions that are truly important, read on for a few last quick tips.

3 more ways you can protect your availability:

A curated list of things worth sharing.

Being less available is easier when your space feels intentional. Flocus gives you a calm home base for deep work blocks, gentle structure, and distraction-free focus windows, so you’re not constantly pulled into response mode.

Go to Flocus

The next time your phone pings with a “quick” task or check-in, we hope you’ll remember this email and take some time to pause. Protecting your availability will take a lot of practice — but you got this!

How are you managing your availability? Let us know in the replies! Our author is, unfortunately, in a season where their 1 non-negotiable is dominating their life, leaving very little space for much else. If you’re in the same boat, we can empathize, and we’re sending you all the strength and support 💜

Until next Sunday,

Flocus Team