How to Check Email Twice a Day… And Have Your Boss Accept It
Think your boss won’t go for an email autoresponder? You’d be surprised.
One SXSW attendee emailed Tim Ferriss with his new trick: he sent an email to everyone in his division letting them know he was only going to be checking email at 11 am & 4 pm.
Here’s the email:
“Hi all,
In an effort to increase productivity and efficiency I am beginning a new personal email policy. I’ve recently realized I spend more time shuffling through my inbox and less time focused on the task at hand. It has become an unnecessary distraction that ultimately creates longer lead times on my ever-growing ‘to do’ list.
Going forward I will only be checking/responding to email at 11a and 4p on weekdays. I will try and respond to email in a timely manner without neglecting the needs of our clients and brand identity.
If you need an immediate time-sensitive response… please don’t hesitate to call me. Phones are more fun anyways.
Hopefully this new approach to email management will result in shorter lead times with more focused & creative work on my part.
Cheers & here’s to life outside of my inbox!“
So far the response has been very receptive and supportive. He got a quick “reply to all” email response from the senior operations manager (oversees 5 radio stations and most of the people in the building):
“Tim,
AWESOME time management approach!!!
I would love to see more people adopt that policy.”
Here is a shorter autoresponder another attendee successfully implemented:
“Thank you for your email! Due to my current workload I am only checking email at 11am and 4pm. If you need anything immediately please call me on my cell so that I can address this important matter with you. Thank you and have a great day!”