Recently I read that President Clinton sent 2 emails during his entire 2 term presidency. 2!
This got me thinking . . . How important is email?
It’s SO easy to get bogged down in email hell and not get any actual work done.
After reading this article in Forbes by Katherine Ellison, a Pulitzer-Prize winning investigative journalist, I was reassured about my decision to curb checking my email to only once a day.
Since I set boundaries with my email usage, I am much more productive. For over 3 years I have taken Tim Ferris’ lead (pp 95) and check email only once a day, always giving clients my direct line if something needs urgent attention.
This allows me the freedom to focus on time intensive tasks, meetings and projects that make keep a roof over my family’s head and dinner on the table. As Katherine clearly states “Today’s relentless email flood could steer you away from high-value work and even out of work entirely if you don’t learn defensive strategies.”
8 Email Strategies for Your Business
Strategies for Dealing With Email Overload – How To Get To And Maintain Inbox Zero
Sure, I can see that there are a lot of reasons email is important. But as technology changes the way we do business, how will it impact email use for future generations?
I was surprised to learn that ‘the use of web-based e-mail was down 31 percent among teens age 12 to 17, and down 34 percent among 18- to 24-year-olds.’
. . . ‘Could you adapt your working and social life to other forms of communication that negate the need for email?’ This is a great question posed in a timely article by Huffington Post UK that offers 6 Better Alternatives To Email. Though there are some that claim that email is dead and swear by a host of alternatives. . . I just don’t know if I could let it go.
Could you?
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Is email important?
How much time do you spend on email a day?
How often do you check your email out side of business hours?
