How to Finally Stop Email Distractions All Day
You are probably getting more emails a day than ever before — nuggets of vital information buried in an ever-increasing pile of rubbish. There are newsletters you don’t remember how to subscribe to, and store promotions that you definitely didn’t subscribe to, mixed with calendar invitations and a pressing question from a customer. The result is a mailbox that is constantly, to put it mildly, distracting.
How to stop distracting from your email
Given how common this is, you might think we have come up with an effective way to mitigate the distraction of our inboxes. But since we also need at least some of what’s inside, layering is the most effective and realistic way to prevent our email from distracting too much of our attention.
Disable these notifications once and for all
The first step is the easiest. If you haven’t turned off email notifications and you are constantly ringing or calling, now is the time to make a change. Switch your phone to Do Not Disturb mode or turn off notifications for your mail app.
If you receive email notifications on your computer, turn them off too. The easiest way to do this is in your mailbox settings. Open whatever email service you use, go to settings and look for the option to turn off notifications.
Check your inbox at the same time every day
Of course, at some point you need to check your email in order not to miss anything important. Now that your notifications are turned off, you might be tempted to check that inbox every, well, five or 10 minutes, just to see what’s coming in a new silence. But the main thing here is to learn how to dive into the mail at the same time every day.
Select two set times — one in the morning and one in the afternoon — to be allocated for the mailbox. Divide this time by at least a few hours, and don’t choose times that overlap with other normal daily tasks. You can also let your coworkers know about this schedule so they know when they will get a response from you or how to contact you if they need a faster response to anything.
Use your email time more efficiently
You can further minimize email distractions by making better use of your scheduled inbox times. Try to spend a maximum of three minutes answering any email, and limit that to three sentences or less. This will help you learn to respond faster and more succinctly.
You can also sort your emails by sender to find the most urgent first, such as from your boss, a new client, or your current project partners. You can also look at the subject lines of the email to see what deserves your attention in the first place. When you start with the most important emails, you can afford to put off any others if you run out of time.
Log out when done
Did you know that you don’t really need to stay in your email all the time? This is true! When you’re done checking your inbox, exit the program completely. It may seem like an unnecessary step at first – even a burden – but it helps you finally end up your inbox time and lessen the temptation to come back again and again.
When you have to take the extra step to return, the temptation to do so suddenly becomes less intense.