Do you check your email first thing in the morning after arriving at work? 
Do you continue checking throughout the day? Checking email is a big part of every working day for many scientists, including me. Often we are not even aware that checking emails can eat up our time and attention, and does not get us anywhere. After all we are just “checking them”, we are not responding to them, are we?
You think that checking emails or news first thing in the morning will be quick, 10 minutes max, but it usually turns out to be much longer than you hope. You get distracted and carried away. You might get upset at one of the emails or new items. You become reactive. After sighing for a bit longer while playing a game of Sudoku or googling your name you notice that an hour of your work day has been wasted. And you have not even started going through the to-do list or attending that overdue paperwork.
To deal with the addiction to email and googling, one needs to stay alert. A clearly defined plan to tackle the distractions is useful. In what follows, I examine some remedies that can help us deal with the addiction and become more productive at work. Here are the concrete actions that you can undertake to help you stay focused:
1. Do NOT check your email first thing in the morning. According to Vitae, you can increase your daily productivity by about 20% by following this one simple tip. When you get in to work do not turn on your computer or at least your email program. Instead, set an intention for the day (more on this in one of the coming posts), define the most important task, set a timer and solely focus on this project. Then you can check your email, say after morning tea.
2. Batch email time. Set a time twice a day for this one particular activity of checking and responding to your emails. By doing this, you actually force yourself to respond. This will eliminate the attention splattering multitasking when trying to write a paper or a grant application while constantly checking emails.
3. Create a Not-to-Do List and put “checking emails” on the list. Post the list where you can see it.
4. Only download email once every two hour instead of every five minutes (the default of my email program).
5. Turn off the “bing” alert on your email program so it does not pop up and distract you. Even better, turn off your email program.
These remedies are proven recipes for dealing with the addiction to email. They do, however, require some strength. So if you are feeling a bit weak and all of the above fails, there are some more drastic measures…
You can try the applications Freedom and Anti-Social, they really help. Freedom locks you away from the whole of internet for 8 hours, while Anti-Social hides you from the social part of the internet such as Facebook, Twitter and other pages you specify. You will manifest a dramatic increase in productivity and get a lot done by using these programs.
While these applications will cost you money, there is of course a free method that will safeguard your working day, especially with an important deadline approaching…
Simply take the network cable out of the socket!
This is exactly what happened last week in our flat, where my husband and I found that the Wi-Fi stopped working. A close examination showed that one of the antennas of the wireless router was brutally ripped out. None of our two children admitted “committing the crime.” For my husband, who works from home, it meant no internet in his room. To go online, he would need to go over to the living room where the modem is situated, which he did occasionally. Coincidentally, that week my husband managed to complete an overdue report. And he did not rush to order a new wireless router, preferring instead to extend this productivity spell for a bit longer 🙂
So which one of the outline remidies you are going to try for dealing with email addiction?
Related articles:
Go complaint-free and get an instant increase in productivity
Looking through rose-tinted glasses
How to make the most out of attending a seminar
Like this post? You will love getting my weekly Productivity Insights!
Olga,
Almost scary the thought of disconnecting- however, I’ve often thought we are the most connected and disconnected society ever to exist. Balance is king!
Proud of your hubby for getting the report done!
Wynn
ps- love the new header!
Wynn, thank you for sharing. When I am at work I am constantly plugged in and often distracted. But when I am out in the woods or on a beach with the family, I love the feeling of being disconnected. Like today we spent hours near a fast and noisy river – it filled my heart and soul with nature sounds and smells. Even our mobile phones were switched off. I am back to the online world recharged from nature and re-focused on my goals!! 🙂
Olga –
Great post! It’s so easy to become “lost in” the online world isn’t it? I had the opportunity to “go unplugged” for two weeks this summer while I was in Scotland. I realized early on in the trip how healthy I felt from being totally present to what I was experiencing and I’ve tried to maintain that since returning. Your husband’s actions are proof that we can get so much more done when we’re not distracted.
Laura
I think that it’s a wrong question. Olga, you remember that in precomputer era in soviet NII most people spend their dais in coffee and tee breaks or in smoking places talking with colleagues. So it’s not some new “email addiction” it good old “not working addiction”. And the reasons can vary from quite positive (for example, when I have to make some important decision or to start some new project I need some break to clear my mind and make a helicopter view) and to negative, such as loosing a stimulus to do the job properly.
Asya, privet! Good to hear from you!!
Yes, I totally agree with you – the addiction to email is not a “new addiction” but often a replacement of or addition to other distractions such as tea/coffee or smoking breaks etc… I have started here by discussing the specifics of the addiction to email (which affects my own productivity).
But the principles outlined here would apply to all the known distractions that we submit to instead of getting on with our work. I was thinking of maybe exploring them all in this blog one by one and then offer a solution such as “getting clear on your priorities, defining a task, setting a timer” etc etc…. More in depth discussions to follow!
Hello. My name is Glad. I am an e-mail-oholic.
I admit it.
Isn’t that the first step to recovery?
haha!
In all seriousness — I know it’s a time sucker for me –just like social media outlets such as Facebook and Twitter. I’m working on it. Thanks for the helpful advice.