Total messages per day were often north of 200.The rest of the day, email volume is low. Most of my emails arrive before 10 a.m.In looking critically at my email over several weeks, I came to a few quick conclusions: How much was there a day? What types of messages did I get? When did they arrive? Analysisįirst off, I set out to study my email. Buckle up - this process took months, and this is a lengthy post. Now, I’m down to perhaps an hour a day, and don’t feel the need to check it more than perhaps three times a day.īelow are the steps I took to get my email back under control. Over the past few months, I’ve taken some drastic steps to cut my email time. It wasn’t so great for my relationships, either. Husband gives up and goes to sleep.Įmail was killing my productivity like a deranged maniac in a horror movie. Husband: “Could we watch Walking Dead now, honey?” “In a bit, I’ve got to answer these emails first, and I need to just write this one blog post I couldn’t get to today…”
Cry softly, as productive writing time is gone. Start to panic as I realize I am getting nothing researched or written. Get to end of emails and decide to check one last time for email. Pick up email and watch as 150 new messages load up. I felt obligated to be “on top” of these emails and be responsive to my readers and paying community members.īut things quickly got out of control. And in 2011, I launched a membership community for writers.Įach of these additions brought more email - from blog subscribers and community members. I needed to check frequently in case I missed a great opportunity! With my reputation on the rise and my visibility growing online, tastier leads would pop in on email. I felt the need to read even more widely to be on top of all their topics. As a reporter, I subscribe to a lot of newsletters and like to read widely to look for sources and story ideas.Īs my freelance career grew, I had more and better-quality clients. Until one day, it wasn’t so much fun anymore. It was so fun to come in, click that little ‘send and receive’ button, and get messages from people all over the world!
I’ve been writing since the days when email first began. Here is the story of how email overwhelm nearly ruined both my freelance writing and personal lives, and how I slayed the email dragon and returned to sanity. My name is Carol Tice and I’m an email addict.
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