Amazing things happen outside of your inbox
In fact, most of the amazing work that you produce happens outside of your inbox.
We are social creatures, and the ‘ping’ of a new email arriving is enough to give us sufficient curiosity to drop our most important piece of work and ‘check’ who is reaching out to us to say hi. As we do so, we lose our place, interrupting the most important work of the day, and for what? Usually a circular ‘all staff’ email telling us that Julie from accounts has brought back some sweets from her holiday to Greece, or a reminder about next week’s all staff meeting that you already had in your calendar anyway.
Yet most people turn on their email as soon as they arrive in the morning, and turning it off is the last thing they do each evening before heading home. This means that you’re constantly prone to interruptions that are easily avoided.
Unless you’re waiting on the email that will make you rich, this is not smart.
Turning off your emails, even for just a couple of hours a day or half an hour in each hour, will give you a clearer head, reduce the noise threatening to distract you, and will help you pay attention more easily to the things that really matter.
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Image by: Scotbot
I have a two fold approach.
I have a NAG screen that pops up every time Outlook gets focus : https://www.rossgoodman.com/2012/10/18/stay-focussed-stay-out-of-outlook/
I measure my path to Inbox Zero : https://www.rossgoodman.com/2012/10/26/inbox-zero-and-quantified-self/
Hope either of these helps others to master their e-mail.
Ross