Are You a Slave to Your E-mail?
Do you find yourself constantly checking it throughout the day? Does it keep you from getting other more important tasks done? If so, you may want to read Paul Argenti's Harvard Business Review's article titled Stop Letting Email Control Your Work Day. Professor Argenti first suggests taking a look at all your work tasks and dividing them up into four categories. These categories come from Covey's time management grid.
#1: Urgent AND Important
#2: Important/NOT Urgent
#3: Urgent/NOT Important
#4: NOT Urgent/NOT Important
By taking this inventory, you can better prioritize your tasks so that more of your time can be spent on the important tasks versus the unimportant. You will probably not be surprised that Professor Argenti suggests that email typically falls into category #3—urgent/NOT important. He then goes on to discuss how to better use email to help accomplish your goals and even suggests times when email should not be utilized.
Reference
Argenti P. (2017). Stop letting email control your work day. Harvard Business Review. September 7.