Dealing With the Email You Get: April 2006 Archives

One of the common frustrations I hear from people regarding email is the feeling of being not only swamped, but "at the mercy" of their inbox. When email arrives they feel they have to act on it right away, regardless of whatever they're doing.

Factoring in the "New Mail" sound of many email programs, it becomes Pavlovian - we hear the sound and like a well trained puppy we go check our email, interrupting whatever we were doing.

Who's controlling who? Or rather, what's controlling you?

At a conference a couple of years ago, a good friend made a simple suggestion had improved his productivity dramatically. You almost could feel the productivity of the room increase as others implemented his oh-so-simple suggestion.