You’re on the phone – ‘DING!’,
Someone’s at your desk discussing a project – ‘DING!’
You’re having a coffee – ‘DING!’
DING! DING! DING!
If it’s not a DING then it’s a different sound or alert letting you know that another email has been delivered to your Inbox. And as if it’s not enough to be getting them on your computer, now there’s the trusty Blackberry, iPhone and so on.
Here’s something interesting – 70% of email alerts get a reaction within 6 seconds. And it takes 64 seconds to recover your train of thought after an interruption by email. So, let’s do the math. If you check your emails every 5 minutes that means in a week you can waste 8.5hrs trying to get back to where you were before the email interruption. You may not think you check your emails that often, but just for the next 48hrs take notice or keep score in your head and I bet you’ll be surprised with how often you do this… and leave a comment on the blog and let me know if it was more than you thought.
About 5 years ago I had Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and keeping up with email was a major issue because I couldn’t work for long periods of time. At its peak I had 690 emails in my Inbox awaiting action… I was freaking out big time!
I had to do something fast… something out of the ordinary, something from left field and even a little provocative.
For 3 weeks I implemented the following strategy which got me back on top of my emails, reduced my stress and had a positive effect on my health – an awesome BONUS!
- Turn off any alert, sound, notification, pop-up, flashes or alarm that’s capable of being heard or seen on your email program.
- Turn off your automatic send/receive and do it manually OR extend the timeframe, which transfers email to your inbox as soon as someone sends you something.
- ONLY check your email twice per day, once at midday or 30 minutes prior to lunch, and again at 4:00pm. 12pm and 4pm are the best times to make sure you have plenty of responses to your previously sent emails. Ignore your email for the rest of the day.
- DO NOT check email first thing in the morning. ALWAYS start your day with COMPLETING your TWO most important tasks before 11:00am.
- You MUST avoid using lunch or reading email as ‘creative avoidance’ to getting your most IMPORTANT, most URGENT tasks completed.
When you implement these steps make sure you you let people know, maybe you could include a note at the bottom of your emails or use an auto-response message to educate your peers, direct reports, boss, other colleagues, suppliers, and clients to understand your intention and help them be more effective when communicating with you. Also let them know if there is an urgent matter they need to call you.
Here’s a sample auto-response message:
Hi X,
Thanks for your email.
To keep focussed on my workload I am only checking email at 11:30am and 4pm.
If you have anything urgent that can’t wait please call me on xxx so that I can address the matter quickly.
Thank you and have a great day!
If your Management isn’t in favour of your strategy put forward the idea of a 2 week trial to alleviate any of their concerns.
Like I said, I used this for 3 weeks and it worked. You may only need to do it for a few days. Some people use it every single day… that’s right, it’s their permanent way of handling emails and they swear by it.
If you have any doubt that this would work for you – just try it! You have to discipline yourself to follow your own rules.
Success and nothing less,
PS – It doesn’t stop there, if you want more advanced strategies and knowledge that I share with my clients and you want to become a Productivity Powerhouse you have to understand your Thinking Preferences.
