Shutting Down your Email App
This article is a good tip to implement in the new year when you have the energy.
Let's talk about how to stop emails and other messages interrupting your flow of work, unnecessarily.
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Problem definition
Do you have any of the following thoughts and beliefs, even if they are somewhere hidden in the back of your mind??
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If you don't have any of these beliefs hidden in your subconscious - stop reading this article right now, you are amazing.
If you have thought something along these lines - you will be deeply challenged by what I have to propose.
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Redefining what we think the Problem is
"Let me first resolve my emails and messages on teams"
The real problem here could be labeled differently. It is this: "People could be asking things that are more important than what I had planned to do now. And, if I don't address those new things, I will have problems".
Or even "I prefer to reply to email than to write this boring document".
Let these sink in for a moment…
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Aren't these some of the genuine beliefs under the surface?
These are the probable drivers for our behaviors.
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What could you do about it?
Shut down Outlook and MS Teams (or any other platform) when you need to get stuff done! Even if it's just for a short time slot.
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What if something urgent appears?
It can't be that everything is urgent. Even if you work as a paramedic on an ambulance, you can only take care of one urgent matter at a time - I haven't seen an ambulance driving to two different urgencies at the same time.
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Is the stuff other people ask, more important than what I am doing now?
I also have stuff to do, and it's ok for non-urgent requests from other people to wait. Otherwise, my stuff will never get done, then we will have real problems.
While a lot of the time, other people's requests may need to be solved first, rather than the task at hand, a lot of the other time, we could finish our tasks before.
Be careful with people pleasing.
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In summary
Take this with a grain of salt, and there would be one million scenarios that this will not apply, but please consider this idea.
You will get way more done by shutting down MS Outlook and MS Teams (or whatever tools you use) for a couple of hours a day if you need to do "stuff" that requires you to be there.
No super urgent thing will be left undone.
You won't lose your job.
Your team will not be disappointed.
You will get more done.
Yes, the emails will be replied to, but at the right time.
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Set your boundaries :)