How to Create an Email Schedule That Works

Many of us wake up in the morning and read emails, head to the breakfast table and read emails and then get to our workstations and read emails. 

Don’t Check Emails When You Wake Up 

We start that ping pong process of fitting our work between the dings and notifications first thing in the morning by choosing to start with Email, which is starting with someone else's agenda. Start the day proactive on your agenda and start your day with the most important thing on your Agenda BEFORE checking email. You will be amazed at the difference it makes in your focus for the day.

Having a time management strategy to time block. Timing blocking is setting blocks of time daily work activities like responding to emails can help make us more productive and ease the stress we may feel to respond immediately to other’s requests. 

Create a Scheduled Time for Emails

personal and work culture has created an expectation that if you send a message, it is being read and responded to in real time by the recipient. In reality, this may or may not be true. We have all had days when are “inaccessible” either for personal or professional reasons. On those days, did you feel more focused on the task you were engaged in doing? What if you set aside that time every day?

A part of a time blocking strategy is creating a schedule where you check your email and respond to emails 2-3 times a day opens up more time for meaningful work. Find a time block, a time of day, that works best for you and mark It on your work calendar as time you are unavailable for other tasks. Consider this administrative time, time needed to run your business. It allows you opportunities to schedule meetings, send documents and respond thoughtfully to others’ emails. For many people, doing that once in the morning and once before signing off in the evening is enough. 

I know you are important, so you get a lot of emails. You can still do this. If you can’t block just 2 or 3 blocks for email, another strategy is to block other activities in 45-minute blocks, including meetings and use the last 15 minutes to catch up on email and transition to the next task. 

Putting structure around when you check your email is not easy to implement but it will eliminate a great deal of distraction and increase your focus. That will create a real boost in your productivity. 

Manage Others Expectations

Subject lines are a simple way to support more effective use of email and set expectation. First of all, make sure you change the subject line each time to reflect the current message content. It doesn’t help anyone to see a message about lunch 4 weeks ago that is now about a client project.

One of the more difficult tasks is managing the expectations of others. In some workplace cultures, it seems like you spend the whole day putting out fires. Setting expectations is a two-way street. Sit with your team and identify what is urgent and how to communicate this by email, message or phone.  

Another way to effectively use the subject line is to agree on a naming standard for email subject lines that include when a response is needed. Ie. NRT, NRTM, NREOW - Need Response Today, Need Response Tomorrow, Need Response End Of Week respectively. By setting these expectations together you don't need to get caught up in false urgencies then you can also setup email response blocks. 

Once you have set up a time for email, communicate to others when you will be available. Be clear about the time that you are available to read and respond to documents that are arriving and when you are available schedule meetings. To help “remind” others of this schedule, be sure to send emails only during this designated time, put a footer on your email about your response times and stick to your own scheduled time. Also, as mentioned earlier, be sure to block the time on any shared calendars.

Turn Off Email Notifications

Once you have set up the time blocks and informed your clients and coworkers of how you intend to structure your day to respond to email, now comes the hardest part of the plan, putting it into action. 

Breaking old habits is difficult. To help you stick to these habits, turn off all notifications on your laptop and other devices that might keep you from adhering to your new schedule. Leave your phone in your work bag or somewhere that you can’t access it. This will help to make the transition, consider removing your work email from personal devices. 

In order to successfully shift from checking email on an ad-hoc basis to someone who has a disciplined approach to emails, takes time. Be patient and be kind to yourself. 

We may live in a culture where you are available 24/7 but you don’t have to respond with that same availability. You train people how to treat you and what to expect. Although is it hard at first, it will create more freedom and flexibility for you and give you more focus on your most important actions. 

Set some boundaries, set some group processes and standards and manage expectations to more effectively process emails. Make email a productivity tool rather than a distraction. 

Contact us for more information on how to create a happier, more productive workplace culture.