I have read a lot of articles about productivity over the years.
They tell you how to streamline your work, your procedures, how to work effectively, lots of different tips. And many of them are right on the money.
But I absolutely agree with the ones that talk about what the number 1 productivity killer is.
It’s email.
It’s a dark hole that you can go very deep down so easily.
Being a virtual business owner means that a lot of our communication depends on email. I know mine does!
But how we manage our email is what is important.
If you start your day by picking up email you are starting your day in a reactive mode. You can’t make a plan to do x, y, and z in the morning and then pick up email first thing.
There will be things that you think need your attention, and then your plan you had goes right out the window.
Suddenly you are trying to play catch up.
The same thing with leaving your email open all day long.
While you think it’s a means to be more productive, what you are really doing is allowing yourself to get distracted all day long by other people.
Being attentive to your emails as they come in is even worse than interrupting your morning with them.
It’s impossible to maintain your focus when you have a constant distraction.
You become dependent on the people who are communicating with you. To respond to them as soon as they email you. To do what they say when they say to do it. Instead of acting like the CEO of your company and making the decision yourself – what to do and when.
It’s simply not a productive way to work.
The way to best manage your email is to schedule time to check it each day. That can be every hour if you want it to be (it should less frequently than that, but if you really think you can’t wait an hour then go with that!).
So get into your office in the morning, take care of the things you had planned to take care of.
Then check email for a certain length of time.
Update your task list to incorporate the new information and requests.
Then complete more work. And repeat that cycle.
But don’t keep it open all day, or you will continue to be distracted by it.
The Harvard Business Review has a fabulous article about this – read it here.
And then make a better plan so that you can increase your focus and your productivity, and get more done!
I would love to hear your comments on this. Post it in the comments below.