There were 111 emails this morning when I opened my inbox.
I know for a lot of people out there that 111 is not a large amount but I generally keep my inbox empty, or as close to empty as possible, so 111 seems a lot to me.
The risk of course is that we spend our life answering emails, which create other emails for other people to answer. They then spend their lives answering emails and in return we have to answer those new emails that they sent. We reach the end of the day and we feel exhausted having created or achieved nothing of any benefit to anyone. And so I have two strategies that I have talked about before but this morning it was worth putting them out there again.
1. Email filters. You may have noticed that you get an automatic reply when you email me. This says that I reply to emails 2 days a week. It also says if you have something really important then you can phone the practice and you will get help there.
This has been a remarkable mind shift for me and has removed the urgency of emails entirely. It means that if I would like to consider something for a bit longer I just leave it there because the out of office reply also says that because of the nature of the way I answer emails I might not get to yours for the next couple of sessions. It means that people don’t expect an instant answer and there is no expectation of a quick response. This takes a lot of the pressure off me; ultimately a lot of the emails that I leave don’t actually need responding too.
2. A dictation machine, which I have talked about loads. When I do trim the emails down to a manageable level, cutting out the rubbish (generally takes 5-10 minutes) I can then answer the rest of them in 10-15 minutes. It just leaves me time to do things that are more important, or, god help me, much more interesting and enjoyable. Answering emails is hiding from doing the things that are important.
Blog Post Number - 1339
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