Cure Email Addiction - A 15-Step Process From an Email Lover

Addiction in the case for email can be defined as a compulsive behavior engaged in in spite of its harmful effects. If you’re hooked on email and find yourself checking it even when you’re working on something important and need to stay focused (including sleep), you'll have to commit to breaking the habit. For those of you who get lost in email to the detriment of important work and a life, try these 15 steps to get back in control. Specific computer steps are for Outlook, but you can apply the same techniques to your email client. If you can't, now is a good time to switch.

1. Clean out all that mess! Stop keeping junk you will never need again. Get into a meeting with your Inbox and start purging, creating a filing system for the keepers, and learning tips and strategies for handling each message as you open it. If you stop using it as a database, calendar, to do list, tickler file, or filing system, you'll be able to keep it to one screen, and you'll feel more in control. You won't be worried about missed deadlines, unfinished work, or broken promises because you'll know what's there. I guarantee it!

    

    

2. Shut your computer down. Before you start working on something important, have dinner with someone special, or turn in to get some much needed rest, shut your computer down. The less convenient it is to check email, the better.

    

    

3. Don’t start Outlook when your computer starts. Right-click on the Start menu, click Explore, find your Startup folder, and move Outlook out of it. If it’s a shortcut to Outlook, you can delete it, but make sure (the icon will have a bold, black arrow pointing to the right to denote it’s a shortcut).

    

    

4. Make the default view in Outlook the Calendar (or Tasks). Click the Tools menu, Options, Other tab, Advanced Options, Browse, click Calendar (or Tasks), OK.

    

    

5. Turn off the option of automatically checking for incoming messages. Click the Tools menu, Options, Mail Setup tab, SendReceive, untick Schedule an automatic sendreceive, OK.

    

    

6. Deactivate the new message alert (the ding). Click the Tools menu, Options, Preferences tab, E‑mail Options, Advanced E‑mail Options. In the When new items arrive in my Inbox section, untick Play a sound.

    

    

7. Cancel the New Mail Desktop Alert. In the Windows notification area (where your computer shows the time), right-click on the Outlook icon. To clear the checkmark, click Show New Mail Desktop Alert.

    

    

8. Make it inconvenient to open Outlook. Remove Outlook from the System Tray (to the right of the Start button). Right-click on the Outlook icon, and click Delete (this does not delete the software). Then remove Outlook from the Start menu. Click Start. If the Outlook icon is there, right-click on it, and click Remove from this list. To open Outlook later, you’ll have to find it. Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Microsoft Office, click Outlook.

    

    

9. Work on one computer and use another one for email. This will be an inconvenience, but try it until you kick the email addiction.

    

    

10. Stop using a BlackBerry or PDA around the clock. People have lost their minds thumbing when they should be thinking. No matter how much I love email, I don't want to be tied to it 24-7-365. I don't want it finding me wherever I am, constantly interrupting me from something that is most likely more important. Box your BlackBerry or PDA up and ship it to yourself with 3-5 day ground delivery. You'll find that life goes on. If this isn't feasible, turn it off and leave it in your car when you get home (if you have a personal cell phone, leave the work BlackBerry in your desk at night...don't take it home). You will no longer talk to your spouse or co-worker with one eye on them and another on email. You'll learn to live without it, and will be more sensible when you get it back.

     

    You'll also manage your email better on your computer (or a PDA with Outlook...like my iPAQ) because you can take full advantage of Outlook's power, and you will have access to all your stuff. Later, if you find yourself slipping, ship it again and again until you get this down.

     

11. Find something else to do. Make a list of all the things you've always wanted to do...focusing on things that are realistic and affordable. Create a step-by-step action plan to get some of this done, whether it's learning something new, expanding a hobby, doing some volunteer work, and so on. Get away from the computer and replace it with something that will make you feel good.

     

     

12. Concentrate on breaking the habit. Wear a rubberband around your wrist. Going forward, every time you realize you’ve stopped working on a project and jumped back to email, stop. Pop yourself. Then remove your hands from the keyboard, take a deep breath, then retrace your steps. Back up to what you were doing before you checked email. Do this each time, and you’ll start to change. (It’ll take you approximately 21 days to break the habit, so don’t give up.)

     

     

13. Establish a routine for checking. Once you ease the addiction, establish a routine that works for you. Bear in mind that your boss, co-workers, and clients want answers fast, but don't be foolish in thinking you should be available the instant a message arrives. You are not 9-1-1.

     

     

14. Don't let them visit after they send the email. If someone knocks on your door with the dreaded "Did you get my email? I need to see you for a minute," mention how you work, and get back to that important thing you were doing. You don't want to replace something that can be handled quickly (email) with something that could suck up too much time (visits, phone calls). But you're going to have to pace yourself so you can get everything done.

     

     

15. Organize everything around you (desk, computer files, Inbox, clothes closet), streamline how you work, and learn the technology you touch every day. If you do all these things, you'll end up with extra hours in your day. Now you can get more things done and stay on top of email too.

Start now and do everything you need to to break the hold email has on you. If you do nothing else, clean out all that mess in your Inbox. You'll begin to feel more in control, more on top of things, and the urge to constantly check email will begin to subside. If it doesn't, call Dr. Phil.

“Peggy, thank you so much for an absolutely fabulous seminar...The tips you shared and your book are absolutely wonderful. It [Inbox] is looking very good and I thank you for the best night's sleep I've had in a long while,” Sharlene Thompson, Director of Special Events.

Peggy Duncan is a professional speaker, trainer, consultant, author, and coach specializing in improving personal productivity. Her book, Conquer Email Overload with Better Habits, Etiquette, and Outlook 2003, will revolutionize how you manage email. Visit her online for more tips and strategies at http://www.PeggyDuncan.com