Terry — I guess before email people used the phone more or wrote letters and didn’t expect immediate replies. We’re actually coming into a generation that has not been without email. I almost belong to it myself. I’ve probably had an email since I was 12 when I started emailing my friends about random stuff (which we still do actually), but now email is an integral part of my business too. Before I had email I was too young to need or want it…

Jeremy — true about those one or two email sessions becoming exhaustingly long. I think I’ve come to some sort of arrangement with myself that I can check email a few times a day or more, then what I do is I have only one or two longish reply sessions, where I reply to the things that need it. Since not all emails need replying to, they get filtered out at one of those other checking times. It’s less stressful and hopefully people feel that replies within a day are ok. Although, I just got a second email through a forum instead of my contact form because I didn’t reply to an (non-urgent) email over the weekend. I think one needs to just not stress about it and set their own personal boundaries.

Pelf — I was the same. I didn’t even notice how often I checked email when I didn’t get too many, but now it’s just hectic and many of them are very important, so I really need to check myself that I’m not a slave to email.

Mig — I barely check my email on the weekend now and it’s great. I glance over them once or twice and see if there’s anything urgent coming through (there was one yesterday, but I got an SMS about it too, although I might not have checked my phone before it was too late if I hadn’t seen the email), but otherwise I don’t do business on the weekend, it’s husband and home and church time. I won’t feel guilty about it either (I’m good at guilt, it’s not cool, need to tone it down).

There’s plenty to interact with as you have a lot of neat points. Not allowing twitter to become ones inbox, it was for me until I got it under control. I’ll be honest, email was checking me for a long time but I’ve stepped away and setup filters to aid with organization. I only check email twice daily- surprisingly, there are some days when I don’t check it at all! :) You gotta love it but seriously, you’re right (James too), ignoring people is a no no. Thanks for sharing both your thoughts and the links. Cheers!

-Mig

Creating some sort of semi-regimented schedule is helpful. It’s not something you have to stick to 100%, but it’s something that you can always use as an excuse – “I don’t want to deal with all of this now – I’ll check it after dinner”. Plus, it gives you a sense of control over your email. And control is king.

I know better. I know I need to have boundaries. But it’s all so damned addicting. How did we ever survive before email? I don’t know, but I think I was a shade less neurotic back then.

Of course, all the tips in the world won’t help much if your problem is from over-committing yourself and not feeling able to say ‘no’. That’s my crusade, since as women we’re trained that way. If that’s the case, you need to focus on shifting yourself and your lifestyle stuff higher up the priority ladder, building assertiveness and letting go of that perfectionistic urge to show everyone not only that you can do it, but that you can do it really well, despite the ten million other things you already have on your list.

Yay :)

When I was using Mail as an email client it beeps, but it doesn’t give a notification in the corner of what it’s beeping about, so you have to go to Mail to see what it is and by that time you’re already distracted from what you’re doing. That kind of notification can be unhelpful.

Sounds like you check email. ;-)

…Seriously…