Thursday, April 20th, 2006...8:45 pm

Does Your Email Manage You?

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You have a deadline staring you in the face. You must focus. You settle into your cockpit. You get all of your support materials laid out and get going on the next action that has been nagging at you for days.

You begin to feel like you are accomplishing something…and then it happens.

Like a tap on the shoulder startling you from a trance, a little window pops up from the lower right hand corner of your screen to tell you, “YooHoo, You have mail”.

“Oh, that email is from [you fill in the blank]. Should I derail my progress here to check on it? I really need to get this done!!!”

My friends, we do not have to live this way.

The question we have to answer is… Do we manage our email, or does our email manage us?

There are times when we do not need to allow email (or the phone for that matter) to sidetrack us from the task at hand. That is when our email client should serve us, as opposed to the other way around.

Fortunately, Microsoft Outlook will allow us some peace of mind while we focus on something important.

If we go to the menu at the top of Outlook and click the following buttons.

Tools>Options>(under E-mail on the preferences tab) E-mail Options>Advanced E-mail Options

You will see this window.

Advanced E-mail Options

Above the Desktop Alert Settings button, make sure that the box for Display a New Mail Destop Alert (default Inbox only) is unchecked.

If you really do not want to be distracted, uncheck the Show an envelope icon in the notification area box as well. Personally, I want the envelope, but not the alert. The little envelope does not distract me from what I am doing like the alert does. But even eliminating the envelope is good for those times when you set aside time to focus on one thing, and wish to not be interrupted during that time.

If you use another mail system like Gmail, Yahoo Mail, MSN Mail, or Lotus Notes, there will be a way to turn off your mail notifier. Please consult the help files on these tools.

The key here is to remember that our email client, in this case…Microsoft Outlook, is designed to make us more productive. Sometimes, that means that it just needs to get out of the way.

- Jason

8 Comments

Filed under GTD, Lifehacks

8 Comments

  • John Mac
    April 21st, 2006 at 7:37 am

    Great post. Probably the most effective email control system is to change the intervals that the mail is checked. For example my mail checks every hour. That way, I get 58 minutes uninterrupted by email.

  • Borgendorf
    April 21st, 2006 at 8:49 am

    I’ve been using GTD for a while now. I tried this technique when I first read about it, but I found that there are many times where I’m either getting an e-mail about something related to my current task, or there are certain things that must take priority over my current task.

    I started hiding my e-mail program, turned off the new mail sound, but left the small pop-up turned on. It silently fades in and out, and I glance at it to determine if it’s worth looking at or not. I also utilize the Delete link on the pop-up. If it’s clearly junk mail, or perhaps a message that only says, “Thanks” then I can delete it right from the pop-up and not have it in my Inbox anymore.

    This method has worked out fairly well for me. Turning the new mail sound off was the biggest help of all.

  • Mark
    April 21st, 2006 at 11:20 am

    Interesting. I recently read this article, which addresses much the same issue:

  • Mark
    April 21st, 2006 at 11:22 am

    I guess no HTML in messages:

    http://w-uh.com/articles/030308-tyranny_of_email.html

  • Jason Echols
    April 21st, 2006 at 12:02 pm

    @John Mac

    Agreed, that is another good way to keep email out of your way. However, a lot of times, in the corporate environment, the exchange servers that a company uses for email typically update real time or every five seconds. The option is not there to make is stop updating for an hour based on the canned client that Microsoft has contracted to a specific company. I work in such an environment.

    Thanks for reminding us of that other trick.

    @Borgendorf

    There are times when there is alot of action and email traffic around an item you may be working on. In that case, this may not be the best wasy to handle email interruptions. Like David often says, try it, if it needs tweaking later or you need to make adjustments for a particular situation, feel free to do so.

    Thanks for providing your perspective to remind us that there is no absolute solution for every matter.

    @Mark

    Yes, Mark, this solution is not brand new. You obviously have seen this trick before. Actually, I stumble on this one myself some time back while getting quite frustrated that I was being pulled in a number of directions while I really should have been focusing on one thing.

    So I share for the benefit of those who have not seen it themselves.

    Thanks for your comments. Maybe you can help us with some other Outlook tricks in the future. :^)

  • Lynn
    April 23rd, 2006 at 5:15 pm

    I’ve found another way to handle this. I don’t allow my email to stay on all day, and I don’t allow it to ever automatically check email. :) Drastic, I know, but as someone who is easily distracted, I have to do whatever it takes to keep myself focused on one task at a time. Multitasking is a death knell to whatever task I’m working on.

  • Michael Ramm
    April 24th, 2006 at 1:04 pm

    @Lynn
    I have also implemented this strategy. I do not leave my client open all day. I try to check it once in the morning, once after lunch and then once before I go home. It is a great relief not to stress and wait for emails to come in.

  • Jason Echols
    April 24th, 2006 at 2:33 pm

    @Lynn

    That is the best policy of all. I have actually tried that myself. However, in the corporate environment, some exchange servers will still put that envelope icon in the lower right hand corner, even if Outlook is closed.

    So that nag is still there for some who want no nag at all. :^)

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