It's time to cut back

Well after muddling through almost 700 email messages last Monday and almost 1000 yesterday and the 4 to 5 hundred I receive daily, I've decided it's time to cut back. At this very moment, I belong to 34 yahoo groups and have all 34 yahoo groups set to daily email. So why not just switch to digest mode? Because if I don't have time to read the daily emails then I definitely won't have time to read the daily digests. So I'm cutting back. I haven't quite decided which groups to remove myself from yet. That will take some serious thinking. While I ponder this seemingly impossible task, here's an interesting bit of information I came across last week about your personality and your birth order.

BIRTH ORDER

ONLY-BORNS

Positives: Only-borns are the mega-movers of the world. They are task-orientated; tend to be extremely well organized, highly conscientious and dependable. They are keen on facts, ideas and details and feel extremely comfortable with responsibility.

Negatives: The negative characteristics of only-borns can be tough to handle. They are often unforgiving, very demanding, hate to admit they're wrong and usually don't accept criticism well. To others, they seem very sensitive and indeed, their feelings are easily hurt.

FIRST-BORNS (This is me!!)

Positives: They are natural leaders (um no) and often high achievers (yes). The majority of politicians, spokespersons and managing directors are first-borns. They frequently live with a sense of entitlement and even superiority (hmmmm). They often come in two flavors: compliant nurturers/caregivers or aggressive movers and shakers. Both are in control (definitely); they just use different methods. As a rule, first-borns are picky (no comment), precise people - they pay attention to detail - tend to be punctual, organized, and competent (all 3 definitely apply to me). They want to see things done right the first time. They don't like surprises. (Well that almost fits me to a T).

Negatives: They are often moody (no comment) and occasionally lack sensitivity (hmmm). They can be intimidating, particularly by pushing people too hard or refusing to take no for an answer. Sometimes they can be a bit 'know-it-all', and often they are poor at delegating - largely because they don't trust other people as much as they trust themselves. They also tend to be bossy, perfectionists (ummm, yes) and overly-conscientious.

MIDDLE-BORNS

Positives: The classic middle-born is very relational, tends to be a people-pleaser and usually hates confrontation. Their basic need is to keep life smooth and their motto might be 'peace at any price'. They are usually very calm, will roll with the punches and are amiable, down-to-earth and great listeners. They are skilled at seeing both sides of a problem and eager to make everybody happy. That makes them good mediators and negotiators.

Negatives: They tend to be less driven than first-borns, but are much more eager to be liked - or at least be happy with them. They have a difficult time setting boundaries. They can drift into becoming 'co-dependent' as they try to please everybody. They are not good at making decisions that will offend others. They also tend to blame themselves when others fail.

LAST-BORNS

Positives: Last-borns are the world's cheerleaders. You have strong people skills and love to entertain and talk to others. You make friends easily and immediately make others feel at home. You're an extrovert, energized by the presence of other people and you're probably not afraid to take risks.

Negatives: Last-borns tend to get bored quickly. They have a strong fear of rejection and a short attention span. When the fun stops, they've had enough and want to check out. To some extent they're self-centered. They may harbor unrealistic expectations of finding a relationship that is always fun - and of course, such relationships simply do not last.