Summary: <a href="http://www.gayleallen.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Blog-Post-Jocelyn-Glei.png" rel="attachment wp-att-3154"></a>What stands between us and meaningful work? Email!<br> It is killing our productivity and distracting us from the creative work we crave, yet we spend over a quarter of our work week on it. What is behind our addiction and what can we do about it?<br> <a href="http://jkglei.com/">Jocelyn Glei</a>, author of the book, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Unsubscribe-Email-Anxiety-Avoid-Distractions/dp/1610397290">Unsubscribe: How to Kill Email Anxiety, Avoid Distractions, and Get Real Work Done</a>, explains the science behind our addiction and offers strategies for prioritizing meaningful work. Jocelyn is the founding editor of <a href="http://99u.com/">99U </a>and editor of three productivity books, including the bestseller, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Manage-Your-Day-Day-Creative/dp/1477800670">Manage Your Day-to-Day.</a><br> In this interview, we talk about: <br> <br> The challenge of living in an age of distraction<br> Why it is easier to be busy than to focus on meaningful work<br> How, on average, we check email 11 times an hour and process 122 emails daily<br> How we spend over a quarter of work time on email <br> How the random rewards of email keep us addicted<br> How completion bias makes us strive for inbox zero<br> How designs like progress bars and percentages speak to our completion bias<br> How our negativity bias influences every email that we read<br> How empathy, emoticons, and punctuation can compensate for negativity bias<br> The fact that email goes awry because of a missing social feedback loop<br> How empathy goes a long way in overcoming email negativity bias<br> Email is great for asking but awful for declining<br> The difference between an email asker and an email guesser<br> What it means to do creative, meaningful work<br> Steps we can take to ensure meaningful work rules the day<br> The role momentum plays in doing meaningful work<br> Why we need to synchronize calendars with to-do lists<br> How scarcity of time and resources impacts capacity, mindset, and attitude<br> Tech setups to help us avoid frequent email checks<br> How the best way to fail at email is to rely on program defaults<br> Why the more we check our email, the less happy we are<br> How segmenting emails senders helps us decide which emails to ready by when<br> The fact that not all email messages are created equal<br> How quickly we respond to emails sets expectations <br> How to ensure your emails stand out<br> How productivity can be about what we choose not to do<br> Why we need to spend more time deciding than doing<br> Why it is about leaving a legacy<br> <br> Selected Links to Topics Mentioned<br> <a href="https://twitter.com/jkglei?lang=en">@jkglei</a><br> <a href="http://jkglei.com/">http://jkglei.com/</a><br> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B._F._Skinner">B. F. Skinner</a><br> <a href="http://www.danielgoleman.info/topics/emotional-intelligence/">Daniel Goleman and emotional intelligence</a><br> <a href="http://99u.com/author/mark-mcguinness">Mark McGuinness</a><br> <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Scarcity-Having-Little-Means-Much-ebook/dp/B00BMKOO6S">Scarcity: Why Having Too Little Means So Much</a><br> <a href="http://www.ics.uci.edu/~gmark/Home_page/Welcome.html">Gloria Mark</a><br> <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Manage-Your-Day-Day-Creative/dp/1477800670">Manage Your Day to Day</a><br> <a href="http://www.claytonchristensen.com/">Clayton Christensen</a><br> If you enjoy the podcast, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Steindl-Rast">please rate and review it on iTunes.</a> For automatic delivery of new episodes, be sure to <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/curious-minds-innovation-inspiration/id1049183266?mt=2">subscribe</a>. As always, thanks for listening!<br>
