You can quadruple your productivity and efficiency at work, just by doing one thing: Cut back on the number of times you check your e-mail.
E-mail is a useful – and often necessary – tool. But don’t let it be a constant interruption. One of the biggest e-mail disruptions? Your e-mail provider’s "alert" – the little ding or pop-up window that informs you a new e-mail has arrived.
That alert is a seemingly harmless convenience. But it halts your momentum and derails your thought processes. At best, it’s a distraction. At worst, its promise of a new message persuades you to stop working on an important project. And guess what? You can get rid of it with a few clicks of your mouse.
Here’s how to do it in Microsoft Outlook:
- Go to the Tools menu and click "Options."
- Then click "E-mail Options."
- On the next menu, click "Advanced E-mail Options."
- Go to the section labeled "When new items arrive in my inbox" and un-check each option.
Don’t become a slave to your inbox. Disable this disruptive "convenience" and you will see your productivity and concentration soar.
Similar Articles:
- The “No Response Necessary” E-Mail Productivity Trick – Some days it seems like half your e-mail time is spent sending short replies to people to let them k…
- It’s Good to Know: Setting Up Multiple Homepages – When you fire up your Internet browser, there are probably a few sites you always visit before you d…
- Productivity Tip: 2 Free Online Calendars – If you do not have a computer-based calendar program (like Outlook, Entourage, or iCal) to manage yo…
- 5 Easy Ways to Protect Your Credibility – "It was 1999," Charlie said. "An executive VP had just started at the 500-person comp…
- Are You Kidding Me? – It was Sunday night, and I was sitting down to my usual routine of going through charts and e-mails …
- Dear ETR: “How can I cut back on Gmail spam?” – “In your article about getting rid of excess spam, you stated that Google’s e-mail service has excel…
- It’s Good to Know: Minimum Credit Card Transactions – You’ve no doubt seen these signs at your local market, convenience store, and other businesses: &quo…