Do you find yourself checking your email when you should be doing something more productive with your time? When you know you should be doing something more productive? But instead you find yourself addicted to your email? To get over your addiction requires work and it requires you to identify the main catalysts for why your checking your email so much. There are quite a few main causes, however the main five are as follows:
Reason #1: Checking email is a bad habit
What is the first thing you do when you go to work? Well after you get your coffee, you check your email. Checking your email then sucks you into tasks that derail your main objectives for the day. For example you mentally decided that by 11 am you wanted to have x,y, and z done. Now that you checked your email, you now find yourself solving a completely different problem or you find yourself distracted by company notices for the day like "cupcakes in the break-room".
The solution: Develop discipline, develop a daily work plan, and set aside time, the same time, every day to check email. Meaning plan ahead what you want to get done for the day and by when. Next is to stick to the plan. Adjust if necessary. Then check email only during your time you have designated for email.
Reason #2: Your done, and not sure what to do next
Great you completed your work for the day. Unfortunately in corporate that does not mean you get to go home early. It means you have to continue working on something new. Instead of starting work on something new you instead decide to check or clear out your email. Email provides a convenient excuse for work.
The solution: Keep a running list of tasks. It is impossible to be completely out of work at work. There is always something you could and should be doing.
Reason #3: Your expecting an urgent reply
Now urgent could mean a notification from match dot com that someone messaged you, or urgent could mean a client has questions. Regardless, when your anticipating and hoping for an email you will often waste time when you should be moving forward. Stop refreshing your in-box and get some thing done.
The solution: If your at work, use a service like away find that will send you a notification that a particular person sent you an email. Or another tactic is to leave open your email open while you work on other tasks. Occasionally check in to see if your anticipated email showed up. If not, go back to what you were doing.
Reason #4: Procrastination
Your just wasting time and procrastinating. Instead of just getting started with the task at hand you think "first I will check my email" which will then lead you to reply to this person, then to check the status of that social network. Half hour later your done. You just wasted half an hour.
The solution: Set a daily work plan and stick to it. Make it a point to get your work done in the time you think it should take. Remember, do your work first, then play.
Reason #5: Waiting for a reward
The randomness of delightful emails from a lover or a friend, a happy customer, or your previous date, make a compelling reason to constantly check your email. You just never know when they pay off will be there which in turn keeps you hooked.
The time management solution: Replace the emotional high you get from positive emails with something equally positive. Like a 15 minute break room conversation with a work buddy. Or print out positive emails and post them in your cubicle to keep you motivated.
To wrap this up, stop checking emails when you know you should be working. We all have excuses, but you will feel better about yourself by getting things done through out the day and making use of your time.
