Escaping E-mail Jail
By:
Frank Sanitate
President, Frank Sanitate Associates
The most pervasive time management problem among professionals did not exist 15 years ago: e-mail jail. This, of course, includes texting, which many younger CPAs have as a natural part of their lifestyle.
Checking e-mail actually produces dopamine in the body, and it builds a craving for the next “hit.” By giving into what is immediate, we prevent ourselves from focusing on what is really important.
I was listening to public radio a while back when Utah passed a no-texting while you’re driving law. They were interviewing a teenage girl who was describing how it was to wake up in a hospital room, her last text having gone out one second before her crash. She said, “I am going to try very hard not to text while I’m driving.” Three months later she was in another accident due to texting!
I was narrating this story at a Time Mastery workshop, and a participant raised his hand and said, “But what if you have that problem? I have that problem.” The constant need to check e-mail and texts is addictive behavior. The more we get distracted, the more we look for distractions.
What can we do to counteract this addiction? There are a number of things, but the primary one is to turn off your iPhone or BlackBerry or e-mail and check it only at certain given times every day. I am convinced that most professionals can easily get by, checking their e-mail only 3 times a day—once in the morning, once after lunch, and once before going home (leave at least a half hour of time to check your e-mail before you plan to leave the office). Along with this, you might need an auto response for all e-mails that says: “I will not be checking my e-mail until 1:00 p.m. this afternoon.” You might leave an added statement: “if this is an emergency, please contact my assistant so-and-so by phone at such and such.”
