How to Avoid the Email Trap

If I were to go back in time 10 years, would I have had more or less emails each day?

The answer is clearly LESS.

Consider this: You worked all day. It was a busy day too—at least you felt like it was. You are hacking away and then you look up at the clock to see its already 4pm. How did the day pass by so fast? What exactly did I accomplish?

If you have had days like that, it probably has a lot to do with email. Ah yes, the thing the seems to hold it all together these days.

Don’t believe me? When the network goes down, you can’t tell me you feel completely useless—I know I do.

Although email has transformed the ease of communication, here is a few reasons it is keeping you from being the best version of yourself:

1. The plate is already overflowing throughout the day. Your day is full of meetings, urgent tasks and more meetings. This means you are going to find ways to check your email early in the morning, before the first meeting or after final meeting. Heck, you might even check it on the weekends! Sound familiar? What makes matters worse is the tether that is created when you have it on your phone. For some, this creates the expectation that you are always available, no matter the time.
2. Multi-tasking creates new issues. Sure, it may only take a minute to check that email, but believe it or not, re-focusing back on the important task you were working on can be more difficult than if you just ignored the email in the first place. Plus, it is a slippery slope once you allow your email to pop up with every new entry into the inbox. Squirrel!
3. The anxiety of the inbox tornado. Keeping your email organized is a feat in itself these days. I have a system in place the helps, but it seems with each passing year, it’s harder to maintain and the anxiety of a thousand emails can make you feel like you aren’t on top of your game. I will post a separate article on my system in case it helps someone out there.

So what do we do?

First, you MUST have some sort of system to field your emails. With 90% being unwarranted, unwanted or unbelievably ambiguous (if I am cc’d is that just fyi or something else?), you have to be able to weed out the trash.

Second, consider turning off notifications or having your email open up into a specific action folder. This may help keep you away from the inbox fiasco and spend time on what has the most impact.

Third (and my favorite), consider setting the expectations with an auto-reply. This really helped me mentally with my inbox and it may help you as well.

Setting the expectation early can make you feel like you have the time to do what is most important (it isn’t email). For me, it has allowed me to focus on high quality tasks, take my time in my replies and spend time with my people.

Here is my auto-reply that I currently am using at work:

Greetings, Friends and Esteemed Colleagues,

Due to high workload and deadlines, I am currently checking and responding to e-mail twice daily at 12: 00 P.M. ET and 4: 00 P.M. ET. Replies may take up to 48 hours.

If you require urgent assistance (please ensure it is urgent) that cannot wait, please contact me via phone at 469-267-4163.

Thank you for understanding this move to more efficiency and effectiveness. It helps me accomplish more to serve you and our Airmen better.

All the best to you and yours,

Chief Kehl

To sum it up, email is a main artery of what we do every day, but we cannot let it continue to occupy more and more time away from what is most important—the people. Simply put, there is no substitute for analog leadership.

Your friend,

AJ