Palm devices, especially as more Web and email enabled models come into use, are undoubtedly some of the tools in that work-anywhere toolkit. But because most Palm devices don't ring, other than the occasional alarm, they're "passive" tools that don't have quite the same opportunity to bring work to us in non-work settings. That all may change very quickly as wireless networks spread and are upgraded, and as your Palm device gains the capability to chirp, ring, or play the William Tell Overture while you're sitting in a movie theater with your kids on a Saturday afternoon.

Getting a handle on the problem
There's a spreading awareness of these problems. A small but growing number of savvy employers are realizing it makes no sense to keep everyone tethered with an electronic leash. At the same time, employees and even the self-employed are getting fed up with the "always-on" lifestyle they've slipped into over the last few years. Even if these wired workers don't always notice the stress and strain, their spouses and family members gently (or otherwise) nudge them to find the "off" switch for at least some of the time.

What can be done to cope with all this? As I've described in my book, the first step is to take a "time out" break and ask yourself whether or not this really is a problem for you. One of the points I make is that nobody can tell you how many hours are too many, or how many calls to check voice mail are excessive. The goal is for you to look in the mirror and decide whether the boundaries between your work and your life have become too permeable. There are several quizzes and checklists in the book that help you do so.

This personal assessment is an important point. It can be just as dysfunctional for someone to tell you "Thou shalt not check email after 8 p.m.," as it would be for that person to expect you to keep checking it until 11 p.m. One of the overly-simplistic ways of dealing with these work-life issues is to assume that you need a chronological firewall that pops up to create bulletproof separation of work from the rest of your life. In truth, many people today prefer something more akin to work-life balance or work-life integration. No matter what you call it, it's up to you to determine whether you want to make some changes.

Developing an action plan and selling it
If you do come to the conclusion that you want to regain control of some of those extended work hours, the next step is to develop a plan for making the best use of the 168 hours we all have each week. I've developed a "100/60/0" three-zone model that lets you divide those 168 hours into periods when you're fully on-duty, when you're completely off-duty, and when you're working in what I call a "mid-duty" zone in which you're somewhat less available and accessible but not completely out of contact.

I'm not suggesting that you walk around with a clipboard and stopwatch and turn off your cell phone at exactly 6:34 p.m. on Tuesday night. Instead, I want you to at least become more conscious of your time use and of the need to make some deliberate decisions about how, when, and where you'll continue to be a part of the wired (or wireless) workplace.