Will Email kill you?

Merlin at 43 Folders has an excellent follow up post on email productivity.  His reference to sandwich making really got me thinking.

I know that keeping up with emails throughout the day is a time consuming task for me and probably most of you.  I think the question is what is the definition of productivity?  Careful how you answer.

Your answer depends on where you work, or does it? 

Email can and does produce a lot of fire drills.  Fire drills can take your eye of the ball and kill your strategic plan.  For example, how many times have you finished a week, felt like you got a ton "done", but didn't make progress on what was really important?

Lead by example.  Don't expect immediate answers via email from those that aren't tied to a desk.  Use voicemail, see people face to face and be specific with deadlines and next steps with all of your communication.

Now, I need to stop here because I need to check my email...I'm behind.

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tags: productivity | email

Comments

[Matt Sunshine]

Agree. The fire drill mentality is a killer! it is a complete and total stop down. It is quadrant 1 activity. The key is to deal with it and move on, spend more time in Quad 2 and you will produce more results... Where I work we like to say, focus on your Big Rocks first as they are the most important.