Why emails kill your efficiency and mental health (and how to correct it)

I have published lately a post on a mindset shift: looking efficient is sometimes counter-efficient. In the latter, I suggested writing an entire post on the question of emails, and why they more often than not kill your efficiency. On average, we receive about 100 emails/day when in a leading position, and somehow I do receive about 200/day, 80 of them being somehow ‘urgent’ (though I really do not like this term; if it is really urgent, you call me and if you do not have my number, most likely your definition of urgency will not be impacting me directly). Seeing these emails sit around, or trying to answer them all, has necessarily an impact on our feeling of accomplishment at the end of the day. The truth is that the emails are there anyway, and:

• answering them all (or trying to) leads to either working extra hours to do your actual work, or not doing your actual work at all,

• not answering them leaves you, if you do not work on it, with a feeling of not being efficient enough.

However, if some emails do require an answer – or even an action –  though they were not in your initial plan for the day, you need to be careful how you handle the matter and have strong emailing ethics (yes, this is a thing!) to ensure you are still being efficient and not slowly impacting your sense of self-esteem with this.

Here are a few actionable steps that go into my own emailing ethics; I hope this will help you create your own guidelines (and stick to it!)

I read emails just 3 times a day

if I open emails in between these slots, you can be sure I am tempted to answer and this clutters my mind. In the beginning, it feels quite difficult but with time, you end up having clear time slots in your agenda for emails and thus improve your own time management skills

I delegate emails when relevant

Not everyone can do that, but if you work in a team or have an assistant, please learn how to delegate emails. Often, people email either the only person they know of in a team, or the person they know will answer the fastest (though they are aware the question is not linked to their own job). Thus, feel free to share the email with the colleague who must be in charge of the matter; of course they will probably not answer as fast as you would have, but you should never have received the demand in the first place, so…

I consider emails as work

I do consider emails as work, so if I am off, I make a conscious decision to work extra hours, or not. If I do not and decide to really take time off, then I do not send emails. If you have a stricter schedule (mine is all over the place), then be sure not to check emails when off at all. The truth is that thinking about emails, even if you choose not to answer, prevents you from disconnecting from your job. With time, this can deeply affect your efficiency, because you do need disconnection, no matter how much you love your job or activity.

Also, if you think there might be an emergency, and you need to see it… please know that when there is, people do not choose email! If an emergency is a real one, people will always call you and as mentioned above, if they do not have your contact information, then they are probably not meant to tell you directly that something is urgent.

If I have not answered in the past 3 days, I won’t answer at all

This one was tough, but I am happy I have managed. Let’s be honest: on the daily 200 emails and 80 somehow urgent ones, I can’t answer all 80 properly (even if I delegate 30 of them) and proceed accordingly. Thus, sometimes I answer to some the following days. However, let’s be honest: if I do not answer in 3 days, the urgent matter has probably been handled at another level, so I won’t answer at all. If you send me a gentle reminder a week later, then it means it was never really urgent in the first place and I can now sit with the issue anew.

Special situation, special measures

All the rules I mention above are suitable to my regular work life (if such a thing exists), but when I am travelling for work (between 1/3 of the time and half the time), rules change and I have learnt to be at ease with this. Obviously, I won’t look at emails that much when I am working abroad and having my routine all over the place and long work evenings. You need to be flexible even with your own set of rules, to ensure the guidelines you create always help you and never block you.

Hoping this helps you consider creating emailing guidelines for yourself and sticking to them!