| Each email is really a letter. Imagine a mailman | | | | hears the familiar sound of arriving email! He |
| popping his head through your door with a couple | | | | quickly checks to see what has arrived in his |
| of letters for you - every five minutes! You can | | | | inbox. Five emails in total, two are spam, one is |
| see from the envelopes that most of them are | | | | from the manager of his youth club, one is from |
| really uninteresting, but you quickly look through | | | | a kid he works with and one is from a close |
| them as they are handed to you. It may only | | | | friend of his. He quickly replies to each of the |
| take you a few seconds or a few minutes, but | | | | emails. He's a fast typist, it only takes him five |
| would you put up with that? Is there any chance | | | | minutes total. Proud with his accomplishment, Jim |
| of success or productivity if you would allow this | | | | takes a deep breath, stands up and makes |
| to continue?! Email is no different. | | | | himself a coffee. Guess what - he then got |
| If you want to be effective and productive, you | | | | involved with other tasks and activities and didn't |
| need to be able to concentrate, to focus on | | | | get back to writing that day. |
| those important activities in your life. These | | | | The true cost of email interruptions is not only |
| activities could be personal, for example spending | | | | the time they take to look at (or even to reply), |
| time with your wife and children (how close can | | | | but the time it takes to get back to the project, |
| you be if you looking at your emails while you | | | | and to get back into the level of creativity that |
| were meant to be spending time with someone?). | | | | you were at before you were interrupted. It is |
| Alternatively, activities could be business matters; | | | | not unusual for people to be so distracted, that |
| meetings, projects or reports that you are | | | | like Jim, they don't even get back to the original, |
| working on. | | | | high priority activity they were originally doing. |
| I have a friend, let's call him Jim. Jim is a youth | | | | So treat your email like it is real mail. |
| worker. He is an inspirational speaker and is | | | | Actions to take: |
| generally loved by the people at work. When you | | | | 1. Turn off your email arrival sound |
| send Jim an email, you will usually get a reply | | | | 2. Turn off your automatic send/receive - now |
| within a few minutes, sometimes even within a | | | | you will have to actively check to see if you have |
| few seconds! When I tell people about Jim, the | | | | mail |
| most common reaction is, 'what fantastic service, | | | | 3. Close down your email program when you are |
| what great time management!' However, let's look | | | | not using it |
| a little deeper. | | | | 4. Schedule a few times during the day to check |
| Jim has a dream, of writing and publishing a book. | | | | your email and to reply to the important ones |
| He knows that once written, this book is going to | | | | 5. Schedule some times when you will focus on |
| change the face of youth work. His experience | | | | people or projects and will do everything you can |
| has giving him rare insights that will benefit millions | | | | to ensure that emails have no way through to |
| of young people all around the globe. He's had this | | | | you |
| dream for years. Often he sits down at his | | | | You would never allow real mail to destroy your |
| computer and starts to think. He starts to write | | | | focus and concentration, don't allow email to |
| some ideas down. He gets into the zone and his | | | | either. Watch your productivity soar. |
| creative juices start to flow. Suddenly, 'ping'! He | | | | |