By Mandy Green
2 minute read
Almost everyone I talk to feels that email takes up too much of their time. And yet we can’t stop checking it.
How many times have you checked your email today? Be honest. 2, 5, 10, or too many to keep track of?
For most of the people who contact me for productivity workshops for their staff, I hear that they have their email open from the moment they get into the office until the moment they shut down their computer at the end of the day.
And if you’re like a lot of us, you’re probably guilty of checking email when you get home, while waiting in lines, and maybe even on the weekends.
The problem isn’t knowing what to do. You’ve read plenty of advice telling you to close the inbox, to avoid checking emails first thing in the day, and to get on with your key tasks first.
But are you doing it?
I think most people would agree that they check their phone a lot. But I think very few realize how many times they actually check it and how much it’s causing them to work inefficiently.
I’ve heard a few different stats on this but, the average person picks up their phone 85x a day. If you calculate that, in a 12-hour waking and working stint, that means checking your phone 7 times for every hour. Yikes!
There are a million different apps out there that can help you keep track of how often you check your phone, how many minutes you are on it, what apps you are spending the most time on, etc. Here are a couple that I recommend:
Moment – Records minutes instead of “checks,” this app totals how many minutes you’ve spent on your phone, and lets you set a self-imposed limit for how much time you want to be spending.
RescueTime – Gives you an accurate picture of how you spend your time to help you become more productive.
Personally, I think the best productivity tool is paper and pen.
Once I realized how bad I was at it, I changed how I was thinking and realized that each time I allowed myself to get lost in distractions on my phone, it gave me less time to work on my professional and personal goals, build relationships with my coworkers, and spend quality time with my family.
My challenge to you this week: Download one of those apps and do an honest assessment of how much time you are wasting on your phone. Eliminate checking your phone even just a few times each hour and repurpose that time and focus it towards something that really matters to you. Good luck!
If you’re interested in booking a productivity workshop or training for your admissions staff, shoot me an email to mandy@dantudor.com