WEBVTT - Get out of your inbox

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

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<v Speaker 1>Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

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<v Speaker 1>Today's tip is about how to cope with a high

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<v Speaker 1>volume of email when you still need to get other

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<v Speaker 1>stuff done. With the number of messages that many of

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<v Speaker 1>us receive, we could spend our work days doing nothing

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<v Speaker 1>but replying to emails. In a recent episode, we covered

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<v Speaker 1>a hiers survey finding that people on average received about

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<v Speaker 1>a hundred eighty messages a day and spent one third

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<v Speaker 1>of their work time processing email. That episode featured tips

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<v Speaker 1>on being a better email sender. Today's episode is about

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<v Speaker 1>how you can become a wiser email recipient, getting the

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<v Speaker 1>benefits of email while still getting the rest of your

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<v Speaker 1>work done. The first strategy turn off those notifications already.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm sure you've heard this advice a million times, yet

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<v Speaker 1>many people still work to the soundtrack of pings and swooshes.

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<v Speaker 1>This does not help anyone's productivity, So today, do something

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<v Speaker 1>about it. When you get to work, adjust the settings

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<v Speaker 1>on your computer and phone so that when you receive

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<v Speaker 1>an email, you don't hear it. Even better, close the

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<v Speaker 1>email window on your computer and move your email icons

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<v Speaker 1>somewhere other than the home screen of your phone. That way,

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<v Speaker 1>you won't see the increasing number of new messages. Email

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<v Speaker 1>can wait until you're ready to handle it. The second

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<v Speaker 1>strategy designate a few times a day for email instead

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<v Speaker 1>of checking email continually. In an article for the Harvard

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<v Speaker 1>Business Review, Ron Friedman compares reading email as soon as

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<v Speaker 1>you receive it to going to the grocery store every

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<v Speaker 1>time you notice you're low on something in your kitchen. Sure,

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<v Speaker 1>you could run to the grocery store as soon as

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<v Speaker 1>you see you're on the last half box of cereal,

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<v Speaker 1>But wouldn't you be better off putting cereal on the

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<v Speaker 1>grocery list and continuing with what you were doing. You

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<v Speaker 1>can go to the grocery store later and get everything

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<v Speaker 1>on your list at once. We gain similar efficiencies by

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<v Speaker 1>handling all our email at specific times every time we

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<v Speaker 1>switch activities. There's a cost. When you pause your work

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<v Speaker 1>to read an email. You're losing not just the time

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<v Speaker 1>it takes to read the email, but also the time

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<v Speaker 1>it takes to regain focus. According to research, Freedman sites,

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<v Speaker 1>it can take a full twenty minutes before you're back

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<v Speaker 1>in the zone. And while that might be worth it

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<v Speaker 1>for an email from your biggest client asking for a

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<v Speaker 1>new proposal. It's not worth it when what's in your

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<v Speaker 1>inbox is a message reminding people about office fridge policies.

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<v Speaker 1>So when should you check email, You should avoid your

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<v Speaker 1>best most focus hours. Reserve that time for work on

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<v Speaker 1>important projects. Try processing email when you're a little sharp,

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<v Speaker 1>like in the half hour before lunch or during a

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<v Speaker 1>short break between meetings. Some experts discourage dealing with your

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<v Speaker 1>inbox at the beginning of your day at all. That's

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<v Speaker 1>because it's so easy to get caught up in what's

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<v Speaker 1>in there that you crowd out other priorities. Indeed, time

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<v Speaker 1>management guru Julie Morgenstern called her best known book never

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<v Speaker 1>check email in the morning. And if you can follow

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<v Speaker 1>that advice, you might be surprised at just how much

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<v Speaker 1>you get done. But if your workplace is such that

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<v Speaker 1>people expect email responses quickly, consider handling email once an hour.

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<v Speaker 1>Even spending fifteen minutes in your inbox and then forty

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<v Speaker 1>five minutes out allows for concentration on the high value

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<v Speaker 1>work you were hired for. If someone can't wait forty

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<v Speaker 1>five minutes for a response, well then they need to

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<v Speaker 1>rediscover the calling function on their phone. My last tip

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<v Speaker 1>during your designated email times, process email rather than just

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<v Speaker 1>checking it. Many people look at email as soon as

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<v Speaker 1>they see it, and then glance at the same messages

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<v Speaker 1>again and again every time they return to their inboxes.

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<v Speaker 1>This is inefficient. Instead, once you've decided to sit down

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<v Speaker 1>and deal with email, get yourself as close to current

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<v Speaker 1>as makes sense. If a quick response or action is required,

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<v Speaker 1>do it. If a conversation or lengthier project is called for,

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<v Speaker 1>make a plan for accomplishing it, either by creating a

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<v Speaker 1>calendar item or adding it to your task list. Email

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<v Speaker 1>can easily expand to fill all available space, so if

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<v Speaker 1>you want to spend less time on email, you have

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<v Speaker 1>to commit to giving it less space. If you do,

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<v Speaker 1>you'll be more efficient, you'll create more time for deep work,

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<v Speaker 1>and you'll feel calmer while getting more done in the meantime.

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

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<v Speaker 1>the most of our time. Okay, Hey, everybody, I'd love

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<v Speaker 1>to hear from you. You can send me your tips,

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<v Speaker 1>your questions, or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook,

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<v Speaker 1>and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod. That's b The number

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<v Speaker 1>four then Breakfast p o D. You can also shoot

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<v Speaker 1>me an email at Before Breakfast podcast at i heeart

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<v Speaker 1>media dot com that before Breakfast is spelled out with

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<v Speaker 1>all the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward to

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<v Speaker 1>staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of I

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<v Speaker 1>heart Radio. For more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit

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<v Speaker 1>the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you

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<v Speaker 1>listen to your favorite shows.