How Much Time Do You Spend Reading Email?
So, it's been a busy few weeks. Busy in the sense that I have been out and about trying to squeeze in as much fun as I can with these last few days of summer. We had an awesome time on the rally... post on that coming soon... and the kids and I have been to an amusement park, had a few playdates with friends and have been really enjoying the warm weather and sunshine to the fullest! The count down begins...
Kindergartner - 18 Days
What brings me to my topic of discussion today is email. For the longest time, I have been turning on my computer in the morning and leaving email open all day long. THIS IS NOT A GOOD THING!Pre-Schooler - 23 Days
When my computer is on all day and I am "tempted to" stop by every now and then dinking around versus spending only concentrated time working through my emails. Each day, I get on average, 30-50 emails (I like newsletters and I have a lot of business correspondence, what can I say) which takes lots of time to process. I have learned a better way over these last few weeks that I want to share. It has allowed me to process things, without feeling guilty about when I respond or that I am not being efficient. EVEN ORGANIZERS CAN LEARN NEW TRICKS!
These last few weeks have been so packed that it leaves me little time in the day to actually do work. My schedule in the last two weeks has looked like this:
5:45 am - hubby leaves for work and I open my eyes and search for a cup of coffee
6:30 am - shower
7:00 am - head downstairs, feed cat and turn on my computer
7:30 am - kids wake (either by choice or by me)
8:00 am - breakfast for kids and process all my emails and write out task list
8:30 am - pack lunch and stuff we will need for the day
9:00 am - out the door
4:00 pm - return home and unload car
4:30 pm - sit down for a few minutes from a busy day
5:00 pm - start dinner and turn on computer, follow up with pressing emails and recheck my task list
6:00 pm - dinner and hubby comes home
6:45 pm - clean up dinner and kitchen area
7:00 pm - family walk or hang out in back yard
7:45 pm - bath time for kids
8:15 pm - bedtime for kids
8:30 pm - grown up tv time
9:00 pm - blog, write or do a bit of work that can't wait
10:00 pm - bedtime for me
This is what I have learned about myself and my schedule....
1. I love to learn every day!! Teaching old dogs new tricks IS POSSIBLE!
2. Set chunks of time in the morning and evening allows me to enjoy my day and focus!
3. Set periods of time every couple of days handling the more intensive correspondence, again allows me to focus.
4. Knowing what is important to me and knowing how to prioritize has again... allowed me to enjoy this summer with my kids! Don't get me wrong... come September 8th... it will all change again. Thank goodness I am flexible!
How do you process your emails?
I have 3 big chunks of time for email.
2nd thing in the morning after breakfast, dressing, walking dog. I try to give it 1/2 hour.
After work 1pm -2pm
process new mail and respond to those from the morning that require more than a quickie response.
7pm - after dinner I try to clear out emails again so I have very few in the morning when I'm in a rush.
Like you I get a lot of newsletters and list-serve/group posts to troll through.
I send them to my alias email account orgnews so they don't get mixed up with the more urgent ones.
shhhh. don't tell anyone.Lately I have been a bit burned out and I'm not reading newsletters every month.
This is great Allison!
Only spending the concentrated time has really improved the process in my day! Have a super week!
Megan
I spend WAY too much time on email. I have it open all day long, ugg. Come September though I'll be revamping my whole schedule and will hopefully nip this little problem in the bud...sigh.