Email Noodling?!!! Watzzat? You know exactly what it is, although you may not recognize the name… We call it E-Noodling.
Email Noodling is the pervasive and time wasting practice of looking at all the subjects in your inbox, scrolling up and down, opening one every here and there, closing them without working on them, scrolling up and down some more, lamenting about all the work you have to do, then getting up and going for a cup of coffee.
We’ve all done it. Most of us still do it. It is a habit that has evolved with the growing use of email.
It costs organizations and you a ton… in lost or misused productivity.
Prior to the advent of email, our work and projects were delivered to us by mail or by voice. We received US Postal mail once a day, and company delivered mail only a few times daily. And it wasn’t that much. Our bosses and colleagues may have also delivered to do’s for the task list by phone, personally or in meetings. Most of us remember the day when we actually planned our work, and felt good about the numerous things we accomplished each day.
Enter email. In addition to all of the sources listed above, the free convenient email delivery system has just added a minimum of 30-50 more tasks to the average worker each day. Even though there may be some spam in there, it is still a task.
The clincher is, because there is so much email, and the inbox is right there staring you in the face, most people leave a majority of the delivered messages in their inbox. So even if you clear out 20 of those 30 emails daily, over ten days, you can have 100 items hanging in that inbox. Yikes.
Then what do you do with all those items?!! You “e-noodle.”
You search and sort, answer a few, file a few, delete a few. You re-sort, hoping you’ll be able to delete 10 at once. You look at all those items, get exasperated, and get up and take a walk!
The challenge with e-noodling is that most people confuse activity with results. They are drawn to knocking off items, rather than working on the most important priority. Give me just 10 minutes, and I’ll clear out 30 pieces of mail. Soon that 10 minutes grows, and you get entangled in the task related to one of the items, while you were just trying to clear it out, and oops, you’ve just started working on a not so important item. Confusing activity with results.
Occasional e-noodling is ok. We all do it. Sometimes we need those mindless times of the day to stare into space or noodle.
The biggest challenge about e-noodling is that people are engraining e-noodling as a habit. It has become the way they handle their email, and has become a big part of how they manage (or should we say mis-manage?) their time.
It is reactive, and, done habitually, it can become extremely unproductive and stressful. The cost is not only in the time spent e-noodling, but in the resultant time spent working on the items that are no where near the top of your priority list, and ultimately the stress related to not getting the “right” stuff done.
The cure? Empty out that inbox. Move those emails to another holding place that allows YOU to decide the priority rather than getting romanced into working on the wrong stuff. Avoid skimming subject lines in hopes of clearing out a few items. Work your email from the top down, consistently. Stop surfing. Focus.
While it sounds simple, changing habits to do this every time you review your mail can be a challenge. It will take focus, and attention, every day for about a month. Then, it will your new habit…
And to get there, you’ll need to e-noodle one more LONG time. E-noodle until every item – every item–is all out of the inbox. Then keep that inbox clean. And start managing and enjoying your e-noodle-less life again.
Before we give you a number, let’s set the stage.
We all get more work done when we are focused and uninterrupted. An effective time management strategy is to minimize interruptions and to group like tasks.
At least one out of every two workers has their inbox open, dinging and flashing while they work. This means that the arrival of a new email has the potential to interrupt focused work as many times a day as the number of email messages received.
Because email receipts have become one of the most prolific interrupters of the 21st century, managing the frequency with which you check your email will bring great returns to your productivity. It will also relect the strategy of grouping like tasks.
So, the answer, for the average business:
That’s right, check your inbox only 5 times daily-first thing in the morning, mid morning, after lunch, mid afternoon, and end of day. Or, even less if you are capable.
This works because you’ve turned off automatic send/receive, so it allows you up to two hours to focus on your work, rather than to be continually interrupted. It works because you’ll be grouping the sorting of your email, so you’ll be productive in the zone of sorting your email. It works because you’ve evidenced that YOU’ve taken control of your email, not the other way around.
Wait a minute! I’m on the RECEIVING end of an e-mail message… How can I reduce the amount of e-mail I receive???
You can. And here are just some of the ways you can reduce the amount of e-mail gracing your already overwhelmed inbox. Many of these tips are excerpted from Inbox Detox and the Habit of E-mail Excellence (Acanthus Publishing,2009) by Marsha Egan.
Email begets email. It is important to understand that the more you send, the more e-mail you’ll get. We believe that for every one e-mail message sent, about 3 are received in return. After all, you’re not always sending to just one person.
By reducing the number of emails you send daily, and by implementing some simple steps when sending email, you will in return reduce the number of emails you receive.
There is no question that people who use email more frequently in turn receive more emails in response. Try reducing your sent messages by half and observe the result.
Below are some other ways to minimize the email coming into your inbox. Here is a summary of email reducing practices:
Ask yourself, “Is this email really necessary?” Consider that each email you send to one recipient could create at least one return email. For messages sent to groups, there is an obvious potential mutliplier effect. By envisioning the email you send as a potential trigger for a return email, you will help yourself receive less email.
Pick up the phone. Situations requiring true dialogue are best served with a phone call. Many times even a voice mail message can be better in advancing the conversation. Because we talk roughly four times faster than we write, you can convey more, and with the proper voice inflection by voicemail than by e-mail.
Avoid emotion. Argumentative, emotional, or controversial emails should not be sent; they not only create more angst, but generally create more email response. And if several people are copied, you can just about guaranatee that all of them will be copied on the response.
Use an autosignature. Be sure your email signature line contains all of your contact information. A detailed signature line will make it easy for others to call you or contact you instead of emailing, thereby saving the overall transaction time.
Resist temptation. Don’t fall into the trap of responding to emails just because you feel you need to-if an email truly doesn’t require your reply, let it go and save valuable time.
Clear, concise, short emails. Well crafted and clear emails avoid misunderstadings and return emails to you asking for clarification.
Main point first. Place your main point, assignment, or request within the first two lines of an email can get your reader focused on exactly what you want right from the get-go.
Copy the right recipients. If you copy people extraneously, you are not only generating more messages for them, but also risking receiving an unnecessary response yourself.
Proofread your email. By making sure that the content of your message is understandable, you will avoid a barrage of reply questions in your inbox.
Try these. Let us know which ones work for you. OR – share more tips!
NO! A resounding no!
Some corporate emailers may think they’re impressing their bosses, peers or subordinates by sending emails in the middle of the night. And while an occasional 3:00 AM e-mail may be “forgivin,” think again.
It doesn’t take much to understand why. Just turn the tables and note how you feel when you see the time stamp as some ungodly hour!
So, from the boss’s perspective, consider these perceptions:
- Why is Jim up at 4:00AM, regularly? Is he getting enough sleep? Is he in control? Is he stressed out? Is he out of balance?
- Is Rebecca just trying to impress me? Does she think that I value this behavior? Doesn’t she know how to delay the sending of the email to a “normal” hour?
- What part of “have a balanced life” didn’t he understand?
And, from the employee’s perspective:
- Yikes. My boss is emailing me at 3:00 AM! I wonder if he expects me to do that too?!
- I better check my email first thing in the morning; the boss may have sent me something again in the middle of the night. How’s that for wake up stress?
- Whasssamatter with her? Is she losing it? Why can’t my boss get a good night’s sleep?
- Since he’s working 24/7, I assume he wants me to also. Gad, I hate my job.
In addition to these unhealthy perceptions, you’re taking a real risk emailing when you haven’t had a full night’s sleep, or woke up in anger because of an issue at work.
Give it a rest. Or at least-don’t send it till you’ve had a chance to review it with the light of day.
Keyboard Kim’s fingers are locked to her keyboard. That’s all she does – tap away on those keys…
When I ask clients if they have ever e-mailed to the person in the cubicle or office next to them, nine times out of ten, the answer is yes. Sometimes this is appropriate – in the case of simple questions for which people don’t want to interrupt or impose – but other times, it’s absolutely ridiculous because the item requires discussion.
This practice isn’t happening with only the person in the next cubicle, but applies to anyone within reasonable range of contact. Some people are said to “hide” behind their email, using it prolifically even when other means of communication are more appropriate.
Kim’s Antidote: Many times, face-to-face or telephone discussion is much preferred over email. Simply taking the initiative to meet with a person, and getting the issue resolved with dialogue enables the employee to convey the facial expressions, body language, and feedback that can make an interaction more useful. Just remember, email can never replace conversation.
Excerpted from Inbox Detox, Acanthus Publishing, 2009
