Get out of your inbox

Become a wiser email recipient

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Today's tip is about how to cope with a high
volume of email when you still need to get other
stuff done. With the number of messages that many of

(00:23):
us receive, we could spend our work days doing nothing
but replying to emails. In a recent episode, we covered
a hiers survey finding that people on average received about
a hundred eighty messages a day and spent one third
of their work time processing email. That episode featured tips
on being a better email sender. Today's episode is about

(00:45):
how you can become a wiser email recipient, getting the
benefits of email while still getting the rest of your
work done. The first strategy turn off those notifications already.
I'm sure you've heard this advice a million times, yet
many people still work to the soundtrack of pings and swooshes.

(01:07):
This does not help anyone's productivity, So today, do something
about it. When you get to work, adjust the settings
on your computer and phone so that when you receive
an email, you don't hear it. Even better, close the
email window on your computer and move your email icons
somewhere other than the home screen of your phone. That way,

(01:29):
you won't see the increasing number of new messages. Email
can wait until you're ready to handle it. The second
strategy designate a few times a day for email instead
of checking email continually. In an article for the Harvard
Business Review, Ron Friedman compares reading email as soon as
you receive it to going to the grocery store every

(01:52):
time you notice you're low on something in your kitchen. Sure,
you could run to the grocery store as soon as
you see you're on the last half box of cereal,
But wouldn't you be better off putting cereal on the
grocery list and continuing with what you were doing. You
can go to the grocery store later and get everything
on your list at once. We gain similar efficiencies by

(02:15):
handling all our email at specific times every time we
switch activities. There's a cost. When you pause your work
to read an email. You're losing not just the time
it takes to read the email, but also the time
it takes to regain focus. According to research, Freedman sites,
it can take a full twenty minutes before you're back
in the zone. And while that might be worth it

(02:37):
for an email from your biggest client asking for a
new proposal. It's not worth it when what's in your
inbox is a message reminding people about office fridge policies.
So when should you check email, You should avoid your
best most focus hours. Reserve that time for work on
important projects. Try processing email when you're a little sharp,

(03:01):
like in the half hour before lunch or during a
short break between meetings. Some experts discourage dealing with your
inbox at the beginning of your day at all. That's
because it's so easy to get caught up in what's
in there that you crowd out other priorities. Indeed, time
management guru Julie Morgenstern called her best known book never

(03:22):
check email in the morning. And if you can follow
that advice, you might be surprised at just how much
you get done. But if your workplace is such that
people expect email responses quickly, consider handling email once an hour.
Even spending fifteen minutes in your inbox and then forty
five minutes out allows for concentration on the high value

(03:45):
work you were hired for. If someone can't wait forty
five minutes for a response, well then they need to
rediscover the calling function on their phone. My last tip
during your designated email times, process email rather than just
checking it. Many people look at email as soon as
they see it, and then glance at the same messages

(04:07):
again and again every time they return to their inboxes.
This is inefficient. Instead, once you've decided to sit down
and deal with email, get yourself as close to current
as makes sense. If a quick response or action is required,
do it. If a conversation or lengthier project is called for,
make a plan for accomplishing it, either by creating a

(04:29):
calendar item or adding it to your task list. Email
can easily expand to fill all available space, so if
you want to spend less time on email, you have
to commit to giving it less space. If you do,
you'll be more efficient, you'll create more time for deep work,

(04:50):
and you'll feel calmer while getting more done in the meantime.
This is Laura, Thanks for listening, and here's to making
the most of our time. Okay, Hey, everybody, I'd love
to hear from you. You can send me your tips,
your questions, or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook,

(05:13):
and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod. That's b The number
four then Breakfast p o D. You can also shoot
me an email at Before Breakfast podcast at i heeart
media dot com that before Breakfast is spelled out with
all the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward to
staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of I

(05:40):
heart Radio. For more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit
the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
listen to your favorite shows.