What Napoleon & My Email Have In Common

If you’ve ever interacted with me, you know my attitude towards email: I can’t stand it.?

Is it necessary for conducting business? Of course. But with today’s obsession with always being 100% available, email has become detrimental to our focus and deep work.?

This is especially relevant for individuals who always expect hyper-responsiveness and immediate responses, day or night, no matter what. We all know these people. Most likely, someone specific just popped into your mind while reading that sentence.?

Email gives many people the false impression that they’re entitled to disrupt your day and commandeer your time regardless of your availability or work priorities for the day.?

As a business owner or leader, time is our most precious resource. And that goes double for focus.

Which is precisely why every single email I send has this handy disclaimer in the signature:

“P.S. I only check email for 15 minutes every day. If you're not receiving a response as quickly as you'd like, then please call.”?

I wish I could claim credit for this idea, but that would be dishonest. I actually took inspiration from an unlikely source: Napoleon Bonaparte.?

Everyone knows that Napoleon was notorious for slow replies and typos in his emails. Okay not really, but what a mental image right??

Actually, Napoleon religiously waited 3 weeks before opening his mail.?

In his essay “Napoleon, or The Man of the World,” Ralph Waldo Emerson explains the instructions that Napoleon gave his secretary:?

“He directed Bourrienne to leave all letters unopened for three weeks, and then observed with satisfaction how large a part of the correspondence had thus disposed of itself and no longer required an answer.”

In other words: Napoleon actively delayed opening his mail because most issues resolved themselves, and he wished to let time sort things out for him. What a legend.?

Ryan Holiday at The Daily Stoic puts it perfectly in his article You Don’t Need To Be So Reachable:

“There’s no need to rush. We don’t need to be so reachable—in fact, humans survived for hundreds of thousands of years without DMs, and texts, and Slack Channels. You’ll be fine. Slow down. Let it come to you.”?

That doesn’t mean you should blatantly ignore all communications regardless of their content. After all, I still check emails for at least 15 minutes each day in the event that something truly important emerges.?

Even Napoleon had additional instructions for his secretary:

“During the night, enter my chamber as seldom as possible. Do not awake me when you have any good news to communicate; with that there is no hurry. But when you bring bad news, rouse me instantly, for then there is not a moment to be lost.”

The lesson here is to distinguish between what needs your attention and what does not. What is important, versus what is urgent. Be intentional.?

This approach certainly isn’t for everybody. I can only attest to my personal experience, which has been overwhelmingly positive: Less email anxiety, deeper focus, and a drastic increase in my work quality.?

What do you think about this approach to emails? What are some scenarios or industries that lend themselves well to this concept? Alternatively, what are some professions where this approach is seemingly impossible??

Leave it in the comments!