It’s VERY simple… wait for it… here it comes…
Close your email program.
Seriously. That’s it.
I’ve been doing this for the last week or so when I need to focus and just generally get, ahem, stuff done, and I swear my productivity has jumped about 800%.
If you have your email configured to automatically retrieve new mail every five minutes (like I do), email is a hyper-interruption machine. And it’s like a drug. I can’t help it… when I hear that mail *ding* sound I just HAVE to see what magic awaits in my inbox. Unfortunately, the tiny action of clicking over to the mail program pulls me out of whatever “flow” I was in and, as soon as I’ve deleted the LinkedIn Group notification I don’t care about, I have to spend WAY too much time getting back in the zone.
For me, on a typical day, the reality is that there is far more interruption than there is actual work being done — when the mail program is open. So now, I close it when I’m working and just I open it every hour or two to clean out the inbox.
Besides, if anything is really that urgent, I figure people know how to find me (there’s only about 16 other ways to get my attention).
Technology is never the problem, only a symptom. We must manage our tech as a tool, just like anything else… or there is a real danger it will manage us.
//
P.S. Check out a post by my invisible mentor, Seth, who recently made a similar point about texting at work.
//
My Books by Josh Allan Dykstra on January 19th, 2010
How Good Things Get Made by Josh Allan Dykstra on November 10th, 2010
Do One Thing Every Day That Scares You by Josh Allan Dykstra on February 16th, 2010
Copyright © 2005-2012 Josh Allan Dykstra
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[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by RavenousReader, Josh Allan Dykstra. Josh Allan Dykstra said: A great, simple trick to get more done during the day. http://bit.ly/f9oCfh #work #productivity #email [...]
Michael Dvorscak
…..and here I was expecting a “Godinian Response” of “Just do it.”
13 Feb 2011 06:02 am (@http://twitter.com/Michaeldvorscak)
Josh Allan Dykstra
That’s a good one, too, Michael. Let’s add that to the list.
13 Feb 2011 11:02 am (@joshallan)
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