Summary: <br> Emails and Devices<br> <br> Here’s my number one tip for anyone looking for a simple, quick, easy and effective way to boost their productivity. <br> It’s devilishly simple but requires nerves of steel to implement initially, although once you get through the first couple of days you will find it very easy to keep going with.<br> <br> From a productivity point of view there are lots of reasons why checking your email first isn’t a great start to the day. <br> <br> Here’s a few;<br> <br> 1. Checking your email first means your “agenda” for the day starts to be set by what is in your inbox. These messages are from others, so by doing your emails first you are letting your priorities be set by others.<br> 2. Checking your email first means you aren’t starting work on the most important task/objective you have set for that day. Once you have looked at your emails it’s very difficult to put all that information to one side and focus on what’s really important. It will also be much harder to achieve that ideal state of flow where you are much more productive too.<br> 3. Doing your emails first also sets an expectation that you will deal with emails before anything else, this gives a subtle sign to others about your priorities and also leaves you more likely to suffer from people contacting you with things that are urgent or last minute. It’s the thin edge of the wedge.If you are already feeling panicky that the world will end if you don’t check your emails first thing I suggest easing you into this technique slowly.<br> <br> Here is how to implement it.<br> <br> a. Pick a day where you will not do your email first thing. Just try it once for now so you can see how it feels. Be specific about the day – Wednesday is better than next week for example<br> b. If you currently deal with lots of urgent emails set an auto reply message that says you will be checking your emails after 11am and if anything is very urgent to telephone you instead. If you are worried about having lots of phone calls don’t worry too much, I’ve never had one yet since I implemented this technique and that was 5 years ago.<br> c. Be clear about your most important task/objective for the day and get everything you need to start work on it so you are ready.<br> d. When it comes to the day you have set aside to try this technique don’t even open your email folder/service and turn off all notifications, bings, beeps and other sounds that hail an email landing.<br> e. Enjoy the peace and the productivity and work for around 90 minutes<br> f. Spend a few moments thinking about how it felt to work in this new way<br> g. Get your diary out and plan in more sessions of not doing your email first.<br> <br> This technique is often the hardest for people to start but one of the easiest to continue with because of the huge difference it makes.<br> <br> Do you have email on your phone, your tablet, your laptop and maybe even your Apple watch?This type of constant connectivity is a killer when it comes to being productive. Being constantly aware of emails coming in and responding to them means you never get to focus on what’s important to you and you also never get any of that valuable thinking and reflecting time.<br> <br> You may feel I am being unduly hard on emails with these bonus tips. It’s not just me. A recent study concluded that emails may be one of the biggest barriers to UK productivity and all sorts of companies are utilising new ways to communicate as a result.The danger of having email on all your devices is you are always available. This signals to your colleagues and co-workers that it’s OK to contact you anytime because you will always get the message.<br> <br> To boost your productivity you need to take control of your emails. <br> <br> Here’s how to implement this;<br> 1. Have email only on certain devices. For example I don’t have email on my phone or my IPAD, it’s only on my c
