I love productivity. One of the greatest tools (I thought) for productivity is “push technology” in regards to email. I have loved for many years being notified the second I receive an email so that I can immediately deal with the task and have it be done and not piling up with other emails in my inbox.
What I have noticed lately is that with an increase of email activity rather than push technology making me more productive it actually slows me down. It causes me to stop working on the task that I had deemed most appropriate at that time and look at something that 9 out of 10 times isn’t more important than what I am doing at that moment.
Additionally, I was noticing I wasn’t giving good energy bursts to one project at a time. I found myself picking up one, two, three projects at one time and therefore diluting my effectiveness.
Last week, I turned off the push feature on my iPhone. Although I still receive email on my phone it is only when I want to look at it. It doesn’t update me when new ones come in. This has helped me stay focused at the task at hand and decide for myself when I should be dealing with email.
Lesson Learned: Just because the technology exists doesn’t mean I should be using it.
