The Life and Times of a Freelance Writer
Jennifer Escalona tells it like it is
Log Out of Your Email. I’ll Wait.
16 Oct 2009…Did you? Excellent. Because now it’s time for you to start getting actual work done. If you are one of those people who keeps their email open all day, I guarantee that, if a mad scientist hooked little clocks up to your brain, he or she would find that you are wasting literally hours per day by clicking away from projects in order to check email.
Not only do you lose time by clicking away from your task, (and for what? A mailing list subscription? A forward from Aunt Adelaide full of little animals falling asleep?) you lose your concentration regarding that task. So you may think the time you take to click over to your mail, say “ugh,” and click back isn’t costing you, but it is.
It is.
You didn’t really close your email before, did you? Okay, it’s time to bring out the big guns. Check out this older post over at Outright.com about how to recapture your workday after email has snuck over the walls with grappling hooks.
Then get some work done.
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5 Responses to Log Out of Your Email. I’ll Wait.
Vanessa
October 16th, 2009 at 9:21 am
This post should probably be titled, Log Out of Your Facebook Account. For me, Facebook is the real time suck.
Jeff
October 16th, 2009 at 9:44 am
Also log out of Digg and other social networking sites. And stop checking CNN throughout the day, the news will still be there when you get to lunch or to a real break.
Now off to check the top stories on Digg
Jeff´s last blog ..Forsyth Big Creek Greenway Phase 3 First Impressions
Jenn Escalona
October 16th, 2009 at 11:19 am
I didn’t call it log out of Facebook because that would be too hard for me! And, thankfully, I don’t have a Digg problem yet, Jeff. (But I’m getting there.) And I have CNN on my Facebook feed so… Crap!
Bumbles
October 16th, 2009 at 11:23 am
Must.Check.E-Mail! Grrrrr – I wish my work server would block my e-mail site the way they do social network sites. I just can’t turn that personal e-mail off. I blame it on nicotine. When I stopped smoking I started checking my personal e-mail every hour to give myself that little personal break I used to get when I smoked. But now I check that sucker eveyr 15 minutes. And the worst thing? I’m going on vacation tomorrow and leaving the office early today. So I have a tiny window to get all this heap of work done. And yet I am checking my personal e-mail and visiting Google Reader. Thank you for shaming me into turning it all off – for today at least ;0)
Bumbles´s last blog ..ON BLOGGING ~ A Major Award…
Jenn Escalona
October 16th, 2009 at 11:29 am
Bumbles, the fact that I just received your comment in my email means that I still have mine on. And I’m trying to finish up so I don’t have to work on the weekend. Bad, bad.
Maybe a gradual approach would work? On the first day, only check email once per hour. Then the next couple of days to a week, only check it every two hours. Maybe, beyond that, you could move up to three or four hours. (I don’t recommend putting it off anymore than that. An important email could actually be waiting there!)
What do you think?