By Mandy Green
1 minute read
I got this question from a recruiting workshop I did last week and I wanted to share my answer with all of you.
“Mandy, my mornings are generally productive until I start answering all my emails. Then everything falls apart. What should I do?”
My Answer – I get it. You feel obligated to answer email because you want to be responsive to different people at your school or with every potential student or their parents.
But what if you have more important priorities and other key things that also need to get done? On top of that, what if you generally do your ‘best work’ in the mornings.
I find a lot of people use email as a delay tactic because they’re avoiding harder (or not as enjoyable) work.
And for many of us, the problem is that as soon as we open our email, it’s easy to get lost in everything that is in there.
Before you know it hours have passed and you still haven’t made progress on those other vital tasks. It’s like the second you start responding to emails your brain switches out of “proactive” mode… and into “reactive” mode.
My advice is to ask yourself these two questions:
How many emails actually require an immediate response from me?
If I were to reply later in the day would there be any serious negative consequence?
What you’re likely to discover is that if you wait to respond to the majority of your emails until the second part of your day, it has ZERO negative effect on your work.
You’re also likely to find that this strategy will help sharpen your focus, slash your stress, and boost your productivity.
Give it a try!