{"id":143,"date":"2007-06-19T22:46:22","date_gmt":"2007-06-20T03:46:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/michaelhyatt.com\/?p=143"},"modified":"2007-06-19T22:46:22","modified_gmt":"2007-06-20T03:46:22","slug":"breaking-e-mail-addiction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/breaking-e-mail-addiction\/","title":{"rendered":"Breaking E-mail Addiction"},"content":{"rendered":"

I am reading The 4-Hour Workweek<\/a> by Timothy Ferriss<\/a>. He\u2019s only twenty-nine-years old, but wise beyond his years. This is probably the best book I have read on productivity since Getting Things Done<\/a> by David Allen. I highly recommend it.<\/p>\n\n

Tim says,\n<\/p>\n

… limit e-mail consumption and production. This is the greatest single interruption in the modern world.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He\u2019s right. It is amazing how distracting e-mail can be.<\/p>\n

Does this sound familiar? You are working on an important project and you get a notice that you have received an e-mail message. What do you do? You stop what you are doing to read the message, despite the fact that this can totally derail you from your current task.<\/p>\n

The worst part is that people go through their entire day like this. No sooner are they engaged in doing something important and meaningful and\u2014da-ding!\u2014they get a notice that they have received a new e-mail.<\/p>\n

They stop what they are doing, switch to their inbox, and read some inane e-mail that contributes nothing to their current priorities or the project at hand. What makes us do this? This is border-line neurotic behavior. I should know. I suffer from the disease myself.<\/p>\n

If you keep doing this long enough\u2014let\u2019s be honest here\u2014it makes you A.D.D. You stay busy all day long and have virtually nothing to show for it at the end of the day. Can we agree to stop the madness?<\/p>\n

Based on Tim\u2019s advice, I have resolved to check e-mail only twice a day. It is already having an enormous impact. Here\u2019s what I suggest:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Work on your computer in \u201coffline\u201d mode.<\/strong> You don\u2019t need to be notified when you receive a new e-mail. People can wait. Yes, even your boss.\n

    Instead, let messages accumulate in your inbox and then batch process<\/em> a whole bunch of messages at once. For example, I'm on a plane now. I downloaded my messages just before we boarded in Dallas. I have processed 68 messages in 45 minutes, and generated 21 replies. I am now writing this post. It took 30 minutes.<\/p>\n

    If I had dealt with these in real-time, as they landed in my inbox, it would have likely taken two to three times as long. Why? Because my attention would be divided between my e-mail and all the other things yapping for attention on my desk.\n<\/li>\n

  2. Only check e-mail twice a day.<\/strong> I mean really … isn\u2019t this sufficient? Again, with Tim\u2019s encouragement, I created an out-of-the-office message that says this:
    \n

    Hi,<\/p>\n

    In an effort to increase productivity and efficiency I am beginning a new personal e-mail policy. I\u2019ve recently realized I spend more time shuffling through my inbox and less time focused on the task at hand. It has become an unnecessary distraction that ultimately creates longer lead times on my ever-growing \u201cto do\u201d list. In the end, it doesn\u2019t serve either of us.<\/p>\n

    As a result, I will only be checking and responding to email twice a day\u2014at mid-day and then at the end of the workday. I will try and respond to email in a timely manner so that my new policy doesn\u2019t keep you from getting what you need.<\/p>\n

    If you need an immediate, time-sensitive response\u2014and your request is truly urgent\u2014call Vicki Parr, my assistant, at (555) 555-5555. She will hunt me down and get you the answer you need.<\/p>\n

    Hopefully, this new approach to e-mail management will result in shorter lead times for you with more focused and creative work for me.<\/p>\n

    Kind regards,<\/p>\n

    Mike<\/p>\n

    P.S. I do not check e-mail on the weekends. If you have an emergency on the weekend, please call my cell phone.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    I am only a few days into it, but already I feel amazingly more productive.<\/li>\n

  3. Don\u2019t check e-mail first thing in the morning.<\/strong> This has been the most difficult part of my experiment. I am used to checking my e-mail first thing in the morning and last thing at night (and a hundred times in between).\n

    Instead, I am now focused on getting my two most important daily priorities done first. Before, I would often go days without making any real progress. At best, I was reacting<\/em> and just trying to stay caught up. Now, I am proacting<\/em> and making substantial progress on my goals and to-do list items.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    My wife, Gail, and my assistant, Vicki, don\u2019t think I can stick with it. They are convinced that I will revert to my old ways. (I think they have a bet going.) We\u2019ll see. One thing is certain: this is going to take some serious discipline.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    I am reading The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss. He\u2019s only 29-years old, but is wise beyond his years. This is probably the best book I have read on productivity since Getting Things Done by David Allen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":37725,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[1679,30,1072],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBreaking E-mail Addiction | Full Focus<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fullfocusplanner.com\/breaking-e-mail-addiction\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Breaking E-mail Addiction | Full Focus\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I am reading The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss. He\u2019s only 29-years old, but is wise beyond his years. This is probably the best book I have read on productivity since Getting Things Done by David Allen.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/fullfocusplanner.com\/breaking-e-mail-addiction\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Full Focus\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/facebook.com\/michaelhyatt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/michaelhyatt\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2007-06-20T03:46:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/fullfocusplanner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/06\/GettyImages-102761685.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"667\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Michael Hyatt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@michaelhyatt\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fullfocusplanner.com\/breaking-e-mail-addiction\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fullfocusplanner.com\/breaking-e-mail-addiction\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Michael Hyatt\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/#\/schema\/person\/e326267e17b1b742f4062fcbd4fdfff7\"},\"headline\":\"Breaking E-mail Addiction\",\"datePublished\":\"2007-06-20T03:46:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2007-06-20T03:46:22+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fullfocusplanner.com\/breaking-e-mail-addiction\/\"},\"wordCount\":787,\"commentCount\":45,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"e-mail\",\"Productivity\",\"workflow\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Productivity\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fullfocusplanner.com\/breaking-e-mail-addiction\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fullfocusplanner.com\/breaking-e-mail-addiction\/\",\"name\":\"Breaking E-mail Addiction | Full Focus\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2007-06-20T03:46:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2007-06-20T03:46:22+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fullfocusplanner.com\/breaking-e-mail-addiction\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/fullfocusplanner.com\/breaking-e-mail-addiction\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fullfocusplanner.com\/breaking-e-mail-addiction\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Breaking E-mail Addiction\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/\",\"name\":\"Full Focus\",\"description\":\"Win at Work and Succeed at Life\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Full Focus\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Full-Focus-Logo-Tan.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Full-Focus-Logo-Tan.svg\",\"width\":805,\"height\":178,\"caption\":\"Full Focus\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/facebook.com\/michaelhyatt\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/fullfocusplanner\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/#\/schema\/person\/e326267e17b1b742f4062fcbd4fdfff7\",\"name\":\"Michael Hyatt\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/96062f5af6c86933efd0adddcb29204f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/96062f5af6c86933efd0adddcb29204f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Michael Hyatt\"},\"description\":\"Michael Hyatt is the founder and chairman of Full Focus. He has scaled multiple companies over the years, including a $250M publishing company with 700+ employees and his own leadership development company that has grown over 60% year over year for the past 4 years. Under his leadership, Full Focus has been featured in the Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing companies in America for three years in a row and in 2020 the company was named to Inc.\u2019s Best Work Places list. He is also the author of several New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestselling books, including Platform, Living Forward, Your Best Year Ever, Free to Focus and his newest book The Vision Driven Leader. He enjoys The Double Win with his wife of 40+ years, five daughters, and nine grandchildren.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/michaelhyatt\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/michaelhyatt\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/author\/michaelhyatt\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Breaking E-mail Addiction | Full Focus","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/fullfocusplanner.com\/breaking-e-mail-addiction\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Breaking E-mail Addiction | Full Focus","og_description":"I am reading The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss. He\u2019s only 29-years old, but is wise beyond his years. This is probably the best book I have read on productivity since Getting Things Done by David Allen.","og_url":"https:\/\/fullfocusplanner.com\/breaking-e-mail-addiction\/","og_site_name":"Full Focus","article_publisher":"https:\/\/facebook.com\/michaelhyatt","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/michaelhyatt\/","article_published_time":"2007-06-20T03:46:22+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":667,"url":"https:\/\/fullfocusplanner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/06\/GettyImages-102761685.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Michael Hyatt","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@michaelhyatt","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/fullfocusplanner.com\/breaking-e-mail-addiction\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/fullfocusplanner.com\/breaking-e-mail-addiction\/"},"author":{"name":"Michael Hyatt","@id":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/#\/schema\/person\/e326267e17b1b742f4062fcbd4fdfff7"},"headline":"Breaking E-mail Addiction","datePublished":"2007-06-20T03:46:22+00:00","dateModified":"2007-06-20T03:46:22+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/fullfocusplanner.com\/breaking-e-mail-addiction\/"},"wordCount":787,"commentCount":45,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/#organization"},"keywords":["e-mail","Productivity","workflow"],"articleSection":["Productivity"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/fullfocusplanner.com\/breaking-e-mail-addiction\/","url":"https:\/\/fullfocusplanner.com\/breaking-e-mail-addiction\/","name":"Breaking E-mail Addiction | Full Focus","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/#website"},"datePublished":"2007-06-20T03:46:22+00:00","dateModified":"2007-06-20T03:46:22+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/fullfocusplanner.com\/breaking-e-mail-addiction\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/fullfocusplanner.com\/breaking-e-mail-addiction\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/fullfocusplanner.com\/breaking-e-mail-addiction\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Breaking E-mail Addiction"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/#website","url":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/","name":"Full Focus","description":"Win at Work and Succeed at Life","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/#organization","name":"Full Focus","url":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Full-Focus-Logo-Tan.svg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Full-Focus-Logo-Tan.svg","width":805,"height":178,"caption":"Full Focus"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/facebook.com\/michaelhyatt","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/fullfocusplanner\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/#\/schema\/person\/e326267e17b1b742f4062fcbd4fdfff7","name":"Michael Hyatt","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/96062f5af6c86933efd0adddcb29204f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/96062f5af6c86933efd0adddcb29204f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Michael Hyatt"},"description":"Michael Hyatt is the founder and chairman of Full Focus. He has scaled multiple companies over the years, including a $250M publishing company with 700+ employees and his own leadership development company that has grown over 60% year over year for the past 4 years. Under his leadership, Full Focus has been featured in the Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing companies in America for three years in a row and in 2020 the company was named to Inc.\u2019s Best Work Places list. He is also the author of several New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestselling books, including Platform, Living Forward, Your Best Year Ever, Free to Focus and his newest book The Vision Driven Leader. He enjoys The Double Win with his wife of 40+ years, five daughters, and nine grandchildren.","sameAs":["https:\/\/fullfocus.co","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/michaelhyatt\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/michaelhyatt"],"url":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/author\/michaelhyatt\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=143"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}