Why you should stop checking your email so often

I recently emailed a colleague, and received an auto-response informing me that she only checks email twice a day, and only Monday through Thursday. I applauded when I got that reply!

If you want to be more efficient and less stressed at work, studies suggest you should consider limiting how often you check your email.

At Fundraising Nerd, I follow a similar policy as my colleague, though I haven’t set up an auto-responder to publicize it. Thus far, I haven’t felt the need to, though it’s a great idea if your work context is one where people expect immediate replies. And let’s face it, that’s most organizations these days.

The first step is to turn off your email notifications. Life is stressful enough without the jolt of cortisol you receive every time a notification (email, text, instant messenger, etc.) goes off.

If you get pushback from your colleagues on your new email policy, remind them that multi-tasking makes you less productive. Every time you interrupt what you are doing to respond to email, you are cutting your efficiency by forcing your brain to stop one task and begin another. This means you’ll get less done in a workday. By increasing your email response time, you are actually increasing your productivity, a win for you and your organization.

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