I read this in a Time Magazine article in July. It was about managing your time in the digital age with all of our digital gadgets that constantly demand our attention….Oh I mean manage our time. Sometimes they are a help, sometimes a hindrance I think.
Here’s something I do to cope: I have set my email Outlook to only send and receive when I click on that Send/Receive button at the top. I tell my career coaching clients this and they say, "Oh, mine just beeps at me all the time when I have a new message." Can you say-drive me crazy! I’d go bonkers. The same goes for my new Tmobile DASH I recently purchased. It’s like a Crackberry but runs Windows. One of the 1st things I did when I got it was to turn off the chime that let me know when I had a new email message. Talk about distracting. (Can you tell I am passionate about this?)
So this article says to check email only once an hour and text message yourself notes to create memories of key moments you’ll later savor. Ok the 2nd idea is cute, it’s like an online journal. But the 1st one I think is crazy. I suggest to people they only check their email twice a day. I feel like I could spend my whole day just answering and managing emails. If your job depends on email and you have to check it more frequently, fine. But I would recommend setting aside 2 times during the day that you check email. Otherwise you’ll get sucked in. Try it next week, see that the impact is on your work productivity!
Happy Friday,
Hallie
Career Coach
Related Links:
Holiday Travel, Take a stand for no email
