Quick Tip: Schedule an Email Appointment
Harvard Business Review reports that most people check their email 15 to 20 times a day, typically doing a quick peek every 37 minutes.
We check, check, and check all throughout our workdays.
Then we continue to glance at our phones in the kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, at the park, on the airplane, while walking down the wedding aisle, while in labor and giving birth ... I exaggerate, but only slightly!
This leads to a frazzled, overwhelmed feeling.
Your brain is overloaded by the constant stream of incoming information. No space to think. It's difficult to get into a focused flow-state when you're constantly knocking yourself out of that state every 37 minutes.
Try this instead: schedule an email appointment.
Pick a specific time of day when you will look at your inbox.
Put this email appointment into your calendar, just like any other appointment (client meeting, dentist, haircut, etc.)
Give this appointment a time
limit. 30 minutes, 45 minutes, or whatever seems reasonable to you.
During your email appointment, visit your inbox, read, reply, delegate, delete, do whatever you need to do.
When your appointment ends, leave your inbox and don't visit again until your
next appointment.
If doing just one email appointment per day feels terrifying ("But what if I miss something critically important and time-sensitive?"), try doing three appointments per day, then scale down to two, then one.
You won't miss anything life-altering. I promise.
What you'll gain (more energy, a clear mind, deep concentration, productive work time, space to breathe, and joy) is so much greater than anything you might miss.
Use email. Don't let it use you.
xo.
-Alex
