One of the common frustrations I hear from people regarding email is the
feeling of being not only swamped, but “at the mercy” of their inbox. When
email arrives they feel they have to act on it right away, regardless of
whatever they’re doing.
Factoring in the “New Mail” sound of many email programs, it becomes
Pavlovian – we hear the sound and like a well trained puppy we go check our
email, interrupting whatever we were doing.
Who’s controlling who? Or rather, what’s controlling you?
At a conference a couple of years ago, a good friend made a simple
suggestion had improved his productivity dramatically. You almost
could feel the productivity of the room increase as others implemented his
oh-so-simple suggestion.