T I m e m a n a g e m e n t

Use E-Mail as a Servant
How you deal with your e-mail is going to have a major
impact on your career. There are some people who are slaves
to their e-mail. They have a bell that goes off each time a
new e-mail comes in, and whatever they are doing, they turn
immediately to their inbox to check on the message. In
effect, they “switch tasks” and then return to what it was
they were doing, immediately losing momentum, clarity,
and output in their most important tasks.
Tim Ferris, in his bestselling book The 4-Hour Workweek,
explains how he went from being a slave to his e-mail twelve
to fourteen hours a day to mastering the process completely. 
First, he decided to only answer his e-mail twice a day, at
eleven o’clock in the morning and four in the afternoon.
Then he went from twice a day to once a day, to once a week.
Even when answering e-mails once a week, his efficiency,
effectiveness, productivity, and income increased.
Julie Morgenstern, the time management expert, wrote a
book called Never Check E-Mail in the Morning. This title
and the very idea come as a shock to most people.
They Can Wait 
Some of the most productive people I know have an auto-
matic response on their e-mail. It reads something like this:
“I only answer my e-mail twice a day because of my busy
schedule. If you have sent me an e-mail, I will get back to
you as soon as I possibly can. If this is an emergency, call this
number and speak to this person.”
B A T C H Y O U R T A S K S
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American Management Association / www.amanet.org

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A busy journalist told the story of going to Europe for two
weeks. His e-mail was inaccessible for the entire time. When
he returned, he had more than 700 messages waiting for
him. He knew that it would take him many hours, even sev-
eral days, to go through 700 e-mails. So he took a deep
breath and pressed “delete all.” 
His attitude was simple. He said, “I refuse to be the slave
of any person who sends me an e-mail, expecting me to
reply immediately. Besides, if any of these e-mails were
important, whoever sent the e-mail will send it again.”
And he was right; 90 percent of the e-mails that he
deleted were never repeated, and the ones that he deleted
that were important ones were resent within a few days.
Make a decision not to allow your e-mail to control your
life, like the tail wagging the dog. Instead, discipline yourself
to use e-mail as a business tool. Make your responses quick
and to the point. Check your e-mail only twice a day, or less
frequently. Even better, leave your e-mail off on the week-
ends and spend more time with your family and friends or
engaged in personal activities.
The good news is that you will probably never miss an
important message. There are very few things that happen
that cannot wait another day or two, especially in business.
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T I M E M A N A G E M E N T
American Management Association / www.amanet.org

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Manage the Telephone
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