As a small business owner every second of every minute of every day counts. Every second is also a chance to either make money or lose it. And I know that we all are not working so hard building something just to lose money! One way I found that I was losing time (aka money) is that nagging, amazing, can’t live without email inbox.
Recently I attending a networking event (beware these also can be a time trap) that was focused on productivity and improvement. The concept being that there are so many things we need to do in one day, what is urgent, what is important, and what is not so important? I think most people would probably put email into the important category. Right? Well that is just not true. While it is important to check your email it is not a productive activity. It costs you time where something urgent should take priority. An action that is going to make you money. I do not care what kind of business you are in…if someone emails you something you need to know or do…it is not urgent. That doesn’t mean that you do not need to address the call to action in the email, it just means that it is not something that should take you away from your urgent activity.
So I quit email…almost! I was finding that all day I was checking the urgents off my list but throughout the day I would pop into my inbox just to make sure I had not gotten any new emails. This would break my attention off of the urgent activity and ultimately was costing me time and money. So I have a new method and guess what?! It is working! My method is that I spend 30-60 mins first thing in the morning check my email. I check it again around lunch, and then once again around 5pm. I would like to say quitting time but who are we kidding…no entrepreneur stops at 5pm! Typically I am spending less than 15 mins on the middle of the day checks. So out of my 12-15 hour work day I am spending no more than 90 mins in email. This is probably still too high, but I still receive quite a bit of optional-I like to read and know what is going on in the world- emails! The emails like The Skimm’d, Seth Rodin’s daily blog, my devotional etc. I also turned off my pop up email notifications on my cell phone. Every time my phone buzzed, my brain skipped to what is that email about? Does someone need me? Well guess what…if they really needed me right then they would call or text right?!
There are so many positive things that have happened since I made this change…
1. I wake up on the right side of the bed. I am literally doing the first check of the day on my phone in bed. After working 12 hours having that extra hour relaxing while checking my email is AWESOME! I am not a morning person and my brain needs a slow start so you will have to decide if that works for you at 7am!
2. I enjoy my mobile device again. It was getting to the point that I resented every buzz even if it was a text from a loved one or something that ultimately made me smile! Email never made me smile
3. I am receiving and sending less email. I did NOT see that one coming! Somehow slowly I am filtering through less email without really changing anything but the frequency in which I check it.
4. My productivity has sky rocketed. I am focused and completing tasks the first time. Which means my to do list has also shrunk! More time for urgent!
5. Speaking of to do lists, my email is no longer my to do list. I have a system now which is also aiding in my productivity. My email has become a means to get information from point A to point B. It is simply a transfer of information.
6. The little time I do leave myself for a “life” during the day, I now am spending being aware. It is amazing all the things that can happen when you do not feel like you need to be looking at your device all the time! All if was happening before but I didn’t notice because my phone was buzzing!
So long blog short…do not get trapped by your email. It is a tool, and should be used as such. Do not let it run your life! Also I highly recommend checking out Google’s new tool Inbox. I am really impressed with how much this has improved my process as well. If you need an invite just leave a comment with your email and we will send it right over!
By Carly Gardner