Day 1: Turn Off Email Notifications
Reducing interruptions increases productivity and helps us feel in control.
"I spend more time in my inbox than with my family. If it weren't for email, I would be a much happier person."
Do you identify with this quote? You aren't alone. For many people, email is source of dread, stress, and anxiety. Don't worry. We're here to help.
Welcome to the Revive Your Inbox 21-Day Program!
You will benefit greatly from this program. When you complete it, you will be able to:
- Acquire new tools and strategies to handle email more effectively
- Improve your communication skills
- Identify your email personality
- Be the proud owner of a healthy inbox
- Eliminate the causes of email anxiety
- Enjoy more free time
Day 1 of Revive Your Inbox focuses on reducing the amount of interruption and distraction that email causes. Let's take the first step now.
Disable notifications
Take a look at your inbox. How many of your emails deserve immediate attention? Compare this number to the number of times that you've checked your email today.
Unless your job demands replies within minutes, checking your email frequently is harming your productivity. According to a case study by Loughborough University, it takes an average of 64 seconds to fully recover from being interrupted by an email.
Instead of reading your email as it arrives, we'll ask you to start checking your inbox at set times each day, preferably for fixed amounts of time. If your work requires you to be at a computer, you'll need to disable notifications to break the cycle of constantly checking. The fewer times you are notified about email, the better you'll be able to focus on what you're working on.
Here are the steps to turn off both desktop and mobile notifications for some popular mail systems and devices.
To do: Estimated Time: 5 min
Gmail users
- Click the gear icon toward the upper right of the Gmail window
- Click on the 'Settings' link
- Check 'Mail notifications off' under the Desktop Notifications section
- Click 'Save'
Outlook users:
- From the Tools menu, click 'Options'
- On the Preferences tab, click 'E-mail Options', and then click 'Advanced E-mail Options'
- Under 'When new items arrive in my Inbox', uncheck the 'Display a New Mail Desktop Alert' check box
iPhone Mail.app users:
- Tap 'Settings'
- Tap 'Notifications'
- Tap 'Mail'
- Turn off all notifications
iPhone Gmail users:
- Tap 'Settings'
- Tap 'Notifications'
- Tap 'Gmail'
- Turn off all notifications
Android Gmail users:
- Open your Gmail application
- Tap your Menu button
- Tap 'Settings'
- Uncheck 'Email notifications'
Share today's info:
Final Thoughts
| It takes 64 seconds to regain your concentration after being interrupted by an email. | Tweet |
| Which is greater? # of times you check email vs # of emails requiring immediate action? |
Tweet
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| Turn off email notifications for Gmail, iPhone, Mail.app, Outlook, and Android. | Tweet |
Today, we took an important step: email no longer has the power to interrupt us when we're doing something more important. Tomorrow, we'll work on reducing the amount of email coming in.