Why I Only Check My Emails On The Bus (From The Argus)
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Why I Only Check My Emails On The Bus
11:06pm Monday 28th June 2010
By Julia Chanteray - business advice »
Like most people, email has a tendency to take over my life. It’s how I most often communicate with people and I don’t want to miss out on what’s happening, especially if a client wants to ask my advice.
But email is the number one time killer - it will eat up your day if you’re not careful. Responding to emails as the priority means you’re responding to other people’s agendas, rather than developing your own business or doing the things which are important to you. And half the time, emails just need a quick scan and a fast "that’s fine" response.
So I changed my relationship with email and decided that I would only pick up email while I was between meetings, which, for me, means being on the bus. Travelling between meetings is dead time - I’m only staring out of the window or eavesdropping on strangers when I’m on the number 49 to Hove, so I might as well be doing something useful instead.
And it’s been great. I can catch up with what’s going on and my replies are much more brief than before, so I’m not hoovering up everyone else’s time. If it’s something complicated, checking email on my phone means that I’m much more likely to phone someone and have a real conversation.
Of course it doesn’t always work - I’m not on the bus every day for one thing but, on my other days, I’ve found that I can still free up my time for more useful and enjoyable things by only checking email at 11 am and 3 pm, rather than sporadically through the day.
Why not try taming the email beast yourself, and see if you can get a couple of extra hours per day?
Comments(2)
fulcrum
says...
3:06pm Thu 1 Jul 10
If i was a paying client, I want my "personal agenda" to be the most important thing, not paying you a 3 or 4 figure daily rate so you have "extra time to do the things you want to do" by ignoring my emails.
Really inefficient time management suggestions and literally insulting working practice. That said, i sincerely hope that none of your existing clients see this. They'll probably email immediately.
Good luck!
RobO. says...
5:45pm Tue 29 Jun 10
Would you ever commit to only speaking face to face to people between 11 and 3? How about if you refused to pick up the phone before 12 o clock? It just doesn't make sense to me. If I had sent you a mail and I knew that it was going to be ignored before a certain point in time, I'd feel quite insulted. No one in the right mind would suggest not prioritising your work - but to put email as your very lowest priority, regardless of the content is crazy.