Email can be someone else’s agenda for your time. I think it’s essential to develop a structure around how you check and interact with email. Below are a couple of tips that have worked for me and can be effective in not getting chained to your inbox.
Top of the Morning: Check your email for 10 minutes right away I the morning. Open, answer and prioritize the important stuff. If your boss wants you to get on it, get on it. Then minimize the screen and start to drive productivity.
My email attack plan: How I handle email is to structure my workday into blocks of 60 minutes. I put in 45 minutes being productive and then take five to catch up with co-workers, my boss or perhaps make a coffee run. I then devote the remainder of the hour checking and responding to any important emails. My rule of thumb is that if it doesn’t need immediate action, don’t respond to it. For every important email from your boss you probably receive five to ten emails that can be answered at the end of the day.
The end of the day: Remember the old adage “don’t take your work home with you?” Don’t take email home with you! Smart phones have made us more productive and more mobile. Unfortunately it’s also created a generation of people mindlessly and endlessly refreshing their email inbox. I was as guilty of this as anyone until my wife called me on it. Clear out the inbox at the end of the day and check it again in the morning. The time from business end to your arrival in the morning is your time—don’t spend it checking to see what email your boss sent out at 8:30 PM. That dinner conversation with a close friend is a lot more important that the “save the date” invite for the next company picnic.
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