WEBVTT - Check email on the hour

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.

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<v Speaker 1>This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's

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<v Speaker 1>tip is to check email on the hour if you're

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<v Speaker 1>trying to get out of a cycle of constant reactivity.

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<v Speaker 1>A rule like this is great for being responsive but

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<v Speaker 1>not overwhelmed. As I talk with people about their time,

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<v Speaker 1>one of the most common complaints is the feeling of

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<v Speaker 1>being busy but not getting much done at work. This

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<v Speaker 1>often manifests itself in hours spent dealing with messages. Many

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<v Speaker 1>of these do need to be answered, but they might

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<v Speaker 1>not arrive in any order of importance, and when you

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<v Speaker 1>are in your inboxes frequently there is little focus time

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<v Speaker 1>for any anything else. The advice to check email LUSS

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<v Speaker 1>often is wise but incomplete, because you do want to

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<v Speaker 1>be a team player, you don't want to be a bottleneck.

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<v Speaker 1>And more practically, when you don't respond to an email,

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<v Speaker 1>it becomes an item on your calendar because the person

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<v Speaker 1>wants an answer, and the only way to get your

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<v Speaker 1>attention is to claim a time. You need an approach

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<v Speaker 1>where you are responsive, but you break the habit of

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<v Speaker 1>answering messages as soon as they come in, so a

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<v Speaker 1>good compromise is to check email on the hour. You

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<v Speaker 1>can do this for other sorts of messages like slack

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<v Speaker 1>messages as well. One way this could work is to

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<v Speaker 1>work on a project from say eight to nine am.

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<v Speaker 1>Then at nine you would check messages for some length

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<v Speaker 1>of time. Maybe it's ten minutes, maybe it's fifteen in

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<v Speaker 1>your line of work, but try to assign a reasonable

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<v Speaker 1>but not overwhelm chunk of time. Then at the end

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<v Speaker 1>go work on another project. If you had a nine

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<v Speaker 1>am meeting, you could check from eight forty five to nine,

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<v Speaker 1>then do your meeting, check email again, and so forth.

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<v Speaker 1>You would check on the hour through the day. Now

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<v Speaker 1>this is still quite responsive. Someone sending an email at

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<v Speaker 1>twelve thirty seven pm would most likely get a response

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<v Speaker 1>by one fifteen PM if they needed a quick response.

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<v Speaker 1>This might be a little different if you have a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of meetings through the day, but I know a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of people are responding to emails in meetings anyway

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<v Speaker 1>all the time. This rule might help you pay better attention.

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<v Speaker 1>Since the person would only need to wait an hour

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<v Speaker 1>or so for a response, you would still be a

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<v Speaker 1>team player and you would not be a bottleneck. Presumably,

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<v Speaker 1>anyone needing an immediate response could call, but this rule

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<v Speaker 1>would kick the habit of constantly checking. You can get

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<v Speaker 1>a lot done in forty five minutes of focus time.

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<v Speaker 1>People are often amazed at how much they can crank

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<v Speaker 1>through or think about when they don't constantly distract themselves.

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<v Speaker 1>Some distractions can't be helped, but self generated ones are

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<v Speaker 1>a different matter. Now. I know this approach to check

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<v Speaker 1>email on the hour won't work for everyone, but if

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<v Speaker 1>you are feeling like you don't have time for focused

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<v Speaker 1>work because you need to be reasonably responsive, see if

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<v Speaker 1>this rule helps you manage your schedule. You could try

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<v Speaker 1>it for a few days and see what happens. If

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<v Speaker 1>you do try it for a few days, let me

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<v Speaker 1>know what happens. I'd love to hear about it at

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<v Speaker 1>Laura at Laura Vanderkam dot com. In the meantime, this

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<v Speaker 1>is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making the

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<v Speaker 1>most of our time. Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast.

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<v Speaker 1>If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach

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<v Speaker 1>me at Laura at Laura Vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast

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<v Speaker 1>is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia,

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