How to Fix the “Pavlovian Email Twitch”
Ding – ding – ding.
Always find yourself obsessively checking new emails as they pop into your Inbox? I know I do!
It’s a constant battle to resist. I think it must be part of human nature – the phone rings, the email box dings – I just feel compelled to answer it!
Productivity guru Paul Burton tackles this dilemma on his blog:
Email has reduced us to the level of salivating dogs. Whether we are in the office, at home, or in the line at the grocery store, we are obsessed with checking our e-mail. Ask yourself, when was the last time you went 20 minutes without checking your e-mail or without thinking about checking your e-mail during a workday? My guess is that you can’t recall. I know I can’t.
I’m confident that the e-mail pioneers never in their wildest dreams thought we’d one day have state and federal legislation that prevented us from checking our e-mail (among other things) while driving! Do we need to be told that taking our eyes of the road while hurling two tons of metal down the road at 65 miles an hour is dangerous? Really?
Read the rest of Burton’s post about how to be your own e-mail support group.
