1 00:00:01,720 --> 00:00:06,119 Speaker 1: Good morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. 2 00:00:06,880 --> 00:00:10,200 Speaker 1: Today's tip is about how to spend less time on email. 3 00:00:11,520 --> 00:00:15,640 Speaker 1: Email is an incredibly useful tool. I started my career 4 00:00:15,680 --> 00:00:18,080 Speaker 1: working as a journalist, and I learned to report before 5 00:00:18,120 --> 00:00:20,639 Speaker 1: a lot of people had access to email. It was 6 00:00:20,680 --> 00:00:23,599 Speaker 1: a very different experience. Trying to get people on the 7 00:00:23,600 --> 00:00:26,880 Speaker 1: phone was often tough. Sources would call you back while 8 00:00:26,880 --> 00:00:28,840 Speaker 1: you were on the phone with someone else, so there's 9 00:00:28,880 --> 00:00:31,400 Speaker 1: a lot of phone tag and since you often had 10 00:00:31,400 --> 00:00:33,680 Speaker 1: to go through gatekeepers to get people on the phone, 11 00:00:34,200 --> 00:00:36,559 Speaker 1: it was tempting to keep calling the same people you 12 00:00:36,640 --> 00:00:40,600 Speaker 1: knew would talk with you. Email has opened this all up. 13 00:00:41,560 --> 00:00:45,840 Speaker 1: Everyone is more accessible. This is awesome in some ways, 14 00:00:46,479 --> 00:00:50,120 Speaker 1: and it's also a problem in some other ways. Accessibility 15 00:00:50,159 --> 00:00:54,720 Speaker 1: means anyone can email anyone anywhere in the world at 16 00:00:54,760 --> 00:00:58,200 Speaker 1: any time, and so we do. I don't have to 17 00:00:58,200 --> 00:01:00,440 Speaker 1: tell you that email overload is the cause of an 18 00:01:00,440 --> 00:01:05,680 Speaker 1: incredible amount of workplace stress. People feel constantly behind. In 19 00:01:05,720 --> 00:01:09,720 Speaker 1: My time management fable Juliette School of Possibilities, In one scene, 20 00:01:09,800 --> 00:01:12,440 Speaker 1: Riley notes that the number of unread messages in her 21 00:01:12,480 --> 00:01:16,320 Speaker 1: inbox appears to be rising like seconds on a stop watch. 22 00:01:17,160 --> 00:01:19,600 Speaker 1: People have told me that reading that scene has made 23 00:01:19,640 --> 00:01:22,920 Speaker 1: them feel incredibly anxious. So I wanted to share a 24 00:01:22,959 --> 00:01:25,960 Speaker 1: strategy that one before Breakfast listener wrote in to tell 25 00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:29,440 Speaker 1: me was working for her. She's a project management consultant 26 00:01:29,760 --> 00:01:33,639 Speaker 1: working for global clients. That means that I can receive 27 00:01:33,720 --> 00:01:37,000 Speaker 1: emails at all hours of the day. She writes, I 28 00:01:37,040 --> 00:01:38,920 Speaker 1: often wake up in the morning to a full day's 29 00:01:38,920 --> 00:01:41,280 Speaker 1: worth of emails from Asia and a good chunk from 30 00:01:41,280 --> 00:01:44,000 Speaker 1: Europe as well. Usually by the time I get through 31 00:01:44,040 --> 00:01:46,880 Speaker 1: my responses, the American emails are starting to roll in, 32 00:01:47,200 --> 00:01:50,280 Speaker 1: with Eastern time emails through my work day and Pacific 33 00:01:50,320 --> 00:01:53,680 Speaker 1: time emails after I've left the office. When I first 34 00:01:53,680 --> 00:01:56,440 Speaker 1: took on this position, she writes, I'd be answering emails 35 00:01:56,480 --> 00:01:59,720 Speaker 1: at five am, nine am to five pm, and then 36 00:01:59,800 --> 00:02:03,000 Speaker 1: late into my evening. This not only led to burn out, 37 00:02:03,400 --> 00:02:06,040 Speaker 1: but also my responses were less detailed than they should be, 38 00:02:06,560 --> 00:02:09,440 Speaker 1: and I was being distracted from my other tasks and 39 00:02:09,600 --> 00:02:14,560 Speaker 1: my personal life. So she writes, she discovered email BATCHNG. 40 00:02:14,960 --> 00:02:18,760 Speaker 1: Here's what she did. I turned off email notifications entirely 41 00:02:19,240 --> 00:02:22,160 Speaker 1: and set two one hour long blocks into my calendar. 42 00:02:22,800 --> 00:02:25,400 Speaker 1: One in the early morning for Asia and Europe, and 43 00:02:25,440 --> 00:02:28,919 Speaker 1: one in the afternoon for the Americas. I then stopped 44 00:02:28,919 --> 00:02:32,440 Speaker 1: responding to any emails not labeled urgent outside of this time. 45 00:02:33,639 --> 00:02:35,280 Speaker 1: So now, if you're listening to this, you may be 46 00:02:35,320 --> 00:02:38,240 Speaker 1: wondering if all our listeners clients got angry and decided 47 00:02:38,280 --> 00:02:41,800 Speaker 1: to find other consultants who had respond instantly. The answer 48 00:02:42,520 --> 00:02:46,840 Speaker 1: is no. It was amazing how quickly, without saying anything, 49 00:02:47,200 --> 00:02:50,840 Speaker 1: clients responded to the shift, she writes. If anything urgent 50 00:02:50,919 --> 00:02:54,120 Speaker 1: came up, they used their phones, which is something we 51 00:02:54,160 --> 00:02:57,040 Speaker 1: too often avoid. It allowed me to stay on task 52 00:02:57,200 --> 00:02:59,640 Speaker 1: during the rest of my work day, well also giving 53 00:02:59,639 --> 00:03:03,840 Speaker 1: thoughtful responses to emails during my designated time blocks. Sometimes 54 00:03:03,840 --> 00:03:06,400 Speaker 1: I need more than an hour, she writes, and sometimes 55 00:03:06,440 --> 00:03:09,320 Speaker 1: I need less, but setting the time in advance allows 56 00:03:09,360 --> 00:03:11,960 Speaker 1: me to be more productive. I can be productive not 57 00:03:12,080 --> 00:03:15,640 Speaker 1: just with email time, but all my time. She calls 58 00:03:15,680 --> 00:03:21,000 Speaker 1: this a significant win. I agree. What this consultant realized 59 00:03:21,080 --> 00:03:24,360 Speaker 1: is that, yes, clients want her to be responsive, but 60 00:03:24,480 --> 00:03:27,400 Speaker 1: the reason they're emailing her is that they think she 61 00:03:27,440 --> 00:03:30,480 Speaker 1: has great ideas. They think she can come up with 62 00:03:30,560 --> 00:03:34,320 Speaker 1: genius solutions to their problems. If she's constantly on email 63 00:03:34,360 --> 00:03:37,400 Speaker 1: and constantly moving back and forth between email and other things. 64 00:03:37,960 --> 00:03:40,800 Speaker 1: She can't do that, plus her responses are going to 65 00:03:40,840 --> 00:03:43,480 Speaker 1: be less well thought through than they might be. The 66 00:03:43,560 --> 00:03:47,040 Speaker 1: hard truth here is that sometimes you need to disappoint 67 00:03:47,080 --> 00:03:51,120 Speaker 1: someone's immediate expectation, such as that they will receive an 68 00:03:51,120 --> 00:03:55,560 Speaker 1: immediate response, in order to meet the bigger expectation, which 69 00:03:55,600 --> 00:03:59,280 Speaker 1: is an actual solution to their challenges. So i'd encourage 70 00:03:59,280 --> 00:04:02,920 Speaker 1: you to try back your email responses now. Don't worry. 71 00:04:02,960 --> 00:04:04,600 Speaker 1: I'm not one of those people who says you should 72 00:04:04,640 --> 00:04:07,640 Speaker 1: never check email in the morning or only once per day. 73 00:04:07,680 --> 00:04:10,560 Speaker 1: For most people, that's really just not workable. You'll notice 74 00:04:10,640 --> 00:04:13,280 Speaker 1: that our project management consultant said she would answer stuff 75 00:04:13,320 --> 00:04:16,320 Speaker 1: marked urgent, and if she's doing that, that means she's 76 00:04:16,320 --> 00:04:19,120 Speaker 1: looking at her inbox more frequently than twice a day. 77 00:04:19,640 --> 00:04:22,320 Speaker 1: It makes sense if someone emails you that your one 78 00:04:22,360 --> 00:04:25,039 Speaker 1: thirty meeting is canceled, you'd probably like to know that. 79 00:04:25,880 --> 00:04:27,720 Speaker 1: If you're not getting a whole lot of email from 80 00:04:27,760 --> 00:04:30,320 Speaker 1: overseas so you don't need to make sure you respond 81 00:04:30,400 --> 00:04:33,160 Speaker 1: before the end of another continent's work day, then maybe 82 00:04:33,160 --> 00:04:36,040 Speaker 1: your response blocks can be at different times, say ten 83 00:04:36,120 --> 00:04:38,360 Speaker 1: thirty to eleven thirty in the morning rather than really 84 00:04:38,360 --> 00:04:41,279 Speaker 1: early like six or seven am, and then three thirty 85 00:04:41,320 --> 00:04:43,119 Speaker 1: to four thirty in the afternoon to get the stuff 86 00:04:43,160 --> 00:04:46,000 Speaker 1: from the day. But setting two blocks of time to 87 00:04:46,040 --> 00:04:48,920 Speaker 1: respond to emails and then maybe two other times to 88 00:04:49,000 --> 00:04:52,160 Speaker 1: quickly check in for urgent questions means that you're never 89 00:04:52,240 --> 00:04:55,200 Speaker 1: more than about two hours from seeing someone's email at 90 00:04:55,240 --> 00:04:58,159 Speaker 1: least during your work day, and that's pretty good. It 91 00:04:58,200 --> 00:05:00,919 Speaker 1: also guarantees that you're spending about two and a half 92 00:05:00,920 --> 00:05:03,520 Speaker 1: hours per work day on email, instead of feeling like 93 00:05:03,520 --> 00:05:06,640 Speaker 1: you're spending ten hours a day on email. You could 94 00:05:06,640 --> 00:05:10,200 Speaker 1: possibly even work fewer hours and make more progress on 95 00:05:10,240 --> 00:05:12,680 Speaker 1: your big projects if you're not in your inbox all 96 00:05:12,680 --> 00:05:15,440 Speaker 1: the time. And hey, I am all in favor of 97 00:05:15,480 --> 00:05:18,760 Speaker 1: anything that helps people feel less busy while getting more done. 98 00:05:19,560 --> 00:05:22,359 Speaker 1: So think about your schedule and whether you could schedule 99 00:05:22,480 --> 00:05:26,120 Speaker 1: to email response blocks and maybe a few more scheduled 100 00:05:26,240 --> 00:05:29,320 Speaker 1: quick checks during the day. If you try it, let 101 00:05:29,360 --> 00:05:33,760 Speaker 1: me know. And thanks to our project management consultant for 102 00:05:33,839 --> 00:05:37,279 Speaker 1: sending in her schedule strategy. I love to hear from listeners, 103 00:05:37,440 --> 00:05:39,520 Speaker 1: so if you have a question or a tip, please 104 00:05:39,600 --> 00:05:42,880 Speaker 1: let me know. You can email me at before breakfast 105 00:05:42,880 --> 00:05:47,600 Speaker 1: podcast at iHeart media dot com. I'll probably be responding, 106 00:05:47,800 --> 00:05:51,000 Speaker 1: but not more than twice a day. In the meantime, 107 00:05:51,440 --> 00:05:54,680 Speaker 1: this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making 108 00:05:54,680 --> 00:05:55,479 Speaker 1: the most of our time.