Email. The E is for Eeeeevil.

If email had knuckles, inked across one hand would be the letters “L-O-V-E” and across the other: “H-A-T-E.”  This probably describes some level of almost everyone’s relationship with the electronic beast.  And with the likes of texting, IM and Twitter, the beast is only getting stronger…

It wasn’t until I started writing my dissertation in grad school that I realized how bad the problem had become.  Out of habit, as I wrote, my hand would automatically drift over to the mail program and click “check mail”.  The problem lies not in being the world’s fastest responder, or in being the first person to hear Hannah Montana has a new movie out.  (Actually, the latter is a problem.)  The real problem is that every time we click “check mail” or we hear the “new mail” alarm, it completely derails our train of thought.

In fact, a 2002 case study by Dr. Thomas Jackson revealed that on average, it takes workers 64 seconds to return to work after a single email interruption.  What’s worse, 70% of the emails sent to the subjects they observed were reacted to within 6 seconds of their arrival.  This doesn’t mean they were answered, but at least acknowledged.  We hear that “new mail” alarm and our brains want to check it out…now.

More often than not, the email is worthless, but the distraction then leads to checking a few other sites and before we know it and hour has passed and we’re filling out a quiz to see what Simpson’s character we are.  I’d be willing to bet I’m not the only one who has run protein off a gel or let a column accidentally go dry because I “was gonna come back in 5 minutes”, right after I checked my email…

Don’t get me wrong, I love email like a chemist loves solvent, but it’s got to stop somewhere.  And as our careers develop, there is less and less time for the mismanaged distractions of email.

If any of this sounds familiar, then here’s a tip for managing email that I’ve found to be incredibly helpful.

Check email 3 times a day…maybe 4.  But that’s it – period.

For me, this was probably an order of magnitude reduction.  If we have our email set to check for new mail every 5 minutes, it’s possible we could be distracted 96 times in an eight hour day!  Imagine that many interruptions when we’re trying to sleep – we wouldn’t stand for it.  Like kicking caffeine, the first week of limited email was not easy.  I was cranky, I had a headache and my right eye twitched incessantly, but I got through it.  After the initial adjustment period, I realized it is far easier to focus and get work done when email is not a primary time sink.

When I was still in the lab, my schedule looked as follows.  I checked email once in the morning- usually at home before I went into lab.  This way, I took care of everything I needed to and by the time I got to the bench, I could focus on the experiments I needed to do that day without any distractions.

My next fix was just after lunch.  Again, dealing with anything urgent and then back to work.  Finally, I checked it about 30 minutes before leaving for the evening.  Now, I understand that sometimes it’s a battle just to get out before the sun rises, so the third check can also be at home.  Just try not to do it immediately before bed- give the little noggin’ a break.

The bottom line is to restrict your checks to a limited, fixed number of times a day.  You’ll find your brain really relaxes when it doesn’t have to remind you to click “get mail” every 90 seconds.  I’ve also found it fun to get reacquainted with “concentration” again…

It won’t be easy, but it will be worth it.  So do the experiment and turn E-vil into E-fficient.

Use any other system to manage email?  Think it’s just not possible?