#Just checking if you received my email full

Constantly.Īnd when you do take time to answer email first thing in the morning, it squeezes out time for proactive work. But the truth is, your email inbox constantly refills. It’s all too easy to spend your entire day checking every email as it arrives, thinking that checking an email off your list gets you closer to “completing” your work.

#Just checking if you received my email full

It’s full of other people inviting you to complete tasks for their projects, attend their meetings, and weigh in on their priorities. I t delivers messages to you that are chock-full of other people’s priorities. The reason you shouldn’t check email first thing in the morning is because email is inherently a reactive tool. I would even go so far as to say that for many of my clients, refraining from answering emails first thing in the morning is the key to unlocking their ability to achieve more significant results with far less stress.Ĭhecking Email First Thing Makes You Reactive All Day

But as a productivity trainer for the past two decades, I can tell you that getting this habit right can make a significant difference.

This whole concept of when you check email during the day doesn’t have a one-size-fits-all answer. However, if you quickly skim email first thing in the morning on a smartphone, you can note any critical information, probably without getting sucked into writing lengthy responses and derailing your priorities for the day. Don’t check first thing from a desktop computer. In most cases, I find that not checking email first thing in the morning is the fastest path to improved productivity, with some caveats. Like with most topics, the “sound bite” isn’t the real answer, and in this case, there is certainly a middle ground. But if you don’t check it, maybe you’ll miss an important change to your schedule or a critical piece of information. Conventional wisdom says that checking email first thing in the morning hijacks your productivity for the day.