Does Email Make Us Stupid?

We have research that shows email makes us stupid! A study done in Great Britain, conducted back in 2005, found that email lowers our IQ by 10 points. Hewlett-Packard commissioned the study which found that the constant interruptions of email, instant messages, and cell phones temporarily lower a person’s IQ. The 10 point drop is more than double the IQ dip associated with smoking marijuana—a mere 4 points. Since that study was commissioned, we now have Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other diversions competing for our time.

Is it really email that is the culprit? I certainly don’t think so, at least not when email is used correctly. Email can be one of the best tools we have going for us. We ignore it and take care of other business. At some point in the day, we turn our full attention to our email, handle every message, and get “in” to “empty.”

On the other hand, there are those who check their email constantly to see if anything new has arrived. They read and re-read messages without ever making a decision about what needs to be done with any of them. Their in-boxes grow with each passing day. Productivity drops; stress rises.

Ending the Insanity
You can take control of your email. These steps show you how:

1. Check email only once or twice a day. If you check your email throughout the day, you will never get out of your email. You respond to people only to have them send you a follow-up on the same subject. You wind up playing "email ping-pong," and the exchange would be better handled with a 2-minute phone call.
2. When you handle email, handle it all. Start at the top and open the emails one at a time. If it needs a response, respond. Outside of that, you can only do five things with that email. Read this post to see what those are and how to handle each case.
3. Learn how to send emails to your to-do list. Many emails sit in our email because they embed vague reminders of things we need to do. The better digital systems allow you to forward an email to your to-do list. The subject of the email becomes the subject of the task, and the body of the email appears in the note section of the task. I composed this post on how this concept is handled in Toodledo.
4. If you use Gmail, turn on the Priority Inbox. Gmail offers another option. It's been around since 2010 and works quite well. It's called "Priority Inbox." Priority Inbox presents all of your emails on one screen, but segments them into three groups. At the top are the emails Google has determined are important. At the bottom is a section Gmail calls "everything else." In the middle is a space where emails you have "starred" are grouped. That segmentation gives me all I need to see what might need my attention first or may need considerable time to handle, and what can be handled quickly and with no time deadline. This video demonstrates the concept of the Gmail Priority Inbox:

Gmail learns which emails are important using criteria such as which ones you open and which ones you reply to. If Gmail makes a mistake, you manually mark an email as important or not important. In the future, Gmail will treat emails from that sender according to those preferences.

If you are a Gmail user, you can turn on Priority Inbox at any time. If you are using the new tabbed inbox, you can change to Priority Inbox. On the left-hand side of the screen, mouse over the "Inbox" label and click the drop-down arrow which appears. From the menu, choose "Priority Inbox."

On your mobile devices, go to the Gmail app. On the settings, tap on your email address. Select "Inbox type" and then "Priority Inbox."

Our challenge is to be sure that our technology makes our lives easier, reduces our stress levels, and functions as the wonderful servant it can be. Technology can trap those calls in voice mail, quietly hold those emails until we choose to handle them all, and beautifully organize our to-do lists so that our minds can engage in creative thought.

Technology—a valuable tool or terrible distraction? As technology becomes increasingly important in our culture, we had better determine its function.

What are the challenges that you face with email? 

What solutions have you found?

What Scares You? Is It Your Email?

Thanks to Gene Ramsay for this testimonial. Gene is an insurance agent and husband of master teacher Julie D. Ramsay. Gene had invited me to speak for a group of his colleagues. This video comes as a result of that event.




E-mail is a challenge for all-too-many of us, but it does not have to be. By making decisions on each e-mail and using Outlook's drag and drop feature, an empty Inbox at the end of the day can be a reality. Other electronic to-do list, such as Toodledo, allow you to take those emails which require your action and send them straight from your email to your to-do list. To see how to get email empty using Toodledo, read this post.

From "In" to "Empty"

You walk to the curb and take the mail from your mailbox. When you walk away from that mailbox, it is empty! Better yet, it’s not empty just one day; it’s empty at the end of every day. Wouldn't it be great if only your email inbox operated like the mailbox by the curb?

Decisions, decisions! The key to getting an empty inbox is to simply make decisions about each and every item. Therefore, make a practice of looking at your email only when you have the time and energy to make those decisions. You are going to need to go from top to bottom and make small decisions at each turn.

Delete It. Much of your email requires no action other than to briefly scan it and hit the delete key. Candidates include advertisements in which you have no interest, jokes, threads from email discussion groups, and FYI courtesy copies. You may find it helpful to sort the email by “conversation.” All mail related to a single subject appears together. If the subject is of no interest, delete the entire thread at one time.

Do It. Some emails require only a quick response. Give that response immediately and delete the email if it is of no further value. What if the response is going to take some time, and possibly some research? In that case, send a quick reply to let the person know you received the message and will be getting back soon. If you are an Outlook user, a technique called "drag and drop" allows you to get those types of emails to your task list. Click on the email and drag it to the Task icon, assign a due date, and change the subject line as needed. Now, you can delete the email. If you use a web-based to-do list (I use Toodledo), look for a special email address the service assigns to you. Email sent to that address is automatically added to the to-do list. When you receive an email requiring action, forwarding it to that email address puts it on the to-do list, where it belongs.

Schedule It. Some email embeds information on places you need to be, along with supporting information. This type of information belongs on your calendar. On Outlook, "drag and drop" also works on appointments. The newly-created appointment includes the entire body of the email in its note section. Set a date and time, and save. The information is now in the calendar, and you can delete the email.

Delegate It. Perhaps someone else really needs to be handling this message. Forward it to the appropriate person. You can use "drag and drop" as a follow-up. Drag the email to "Tasks," amend the name of the task, and set a due date for when you want to be reminded about it. If using a service such as Toodledo, forward the email to your digital to-do list. Amend the subject line as needed. Add a hashtag and date, such as "#2/10," and Toodledo assigns a due date of "February 10."

Save It. Is the email of lasting value? Often, we need to save email for documentation purposes. We want to save it "just in case." In Outlook, create a new folder in the left-hand pane and name it "Just in Case." Use the same "drag and drop" technique to move the email from the Inbox to the "Just in Case" folder. If you ever need the email again, sorting that folder by name, subject, or date is easy. Searching the folder electronically is also easy. If using Gmail, the "Archive" icon serves exactly the same function as the "Just in Case" folder. If the content of the email will serve as valuable reference information, drag the email to Outlook's "Notes" icon. If you do not use Outlook, Evernote is a great, free, service for organizing reference information. A special email, assigned to you, allows forwarding any email to Evernote.

“In” Becomes “Empty.” The point of this message is that a decision must be made about each piece of email, and that the decision is made the first time the message is read. Make your decision: Delete, Do, Schedule, Delegate, or Save. See if these practices allow your, “IN to soon become “Empty.”

Write Your Emails Backwards

How many times have you clicked "Send" on an email and then realize you forgot the attachment? The whole reason for the email was the attachment, and you did such a masterful job of explaining all about it. When you finished that explanation, you thought, "I'm done!" So you clicked "Send." Only you weren't done. In fact, now you send a second email explaining you forgot to send the attachment.

How about this one: You write your subject line, but by the time you get through composing the email, its various twists and turns have caused it to stray from what the subject line originally said.

To solve both problems, let's write the email backwards.

Add Attachments
If the email is going to have attachment, start by attaching however many you are going to have. You have just eliminated the possibility of forgetting them. If you are replying to or forwarding an email and need to add attachments, do so before composing any text.

Compose the Text
Go to the body of the email and say what you are going to say. Front-load the message so the reader gets the idea immediately of what needs to happen.

Compose the Subject Line
Look at the email you have written and sum it up in a subject line as descriptive as possible. Can the reader look at that subject line and know what it's going to mean to him/her? Many times, you will find you can write the entire email with just the subject line!

Avoid subject lines such as "Important" or "Meeting." If you want to show an email is important, use the "!" priority symbol your email program provides. "Need your approval on this proposal by Friday" gets the point across much better than "Important." "Can you attend the XYZ meeting on the 13th at 9:00?" is much better than "Meeting." If we can look at the subject line and know we can quickly take care of it, it's just human nature to act on that email.

If you are replying to an email or forwarding one, is the present subject line still applicable? If not, change it to one which is (especially if the original was "Important" or "Meeting").

Address the Email
You can send an email even though you forgot an attachment. You can send an email even if you forgot a subject. You can even hit the "Send" button by mistake before even composing a word of your text. But, you cannot send an email without a properly-formatted email address in the address line. Save this step for last.

Proof-read your email. Double-check that the attachments are there. As the final step, address the email. Now, you are ready to send!

Write your email backwards. See if it doesn't help you escape some of those email blunders.

Does anyone already do something along this line? What other suggestions might you want to add?

Ads in Gmails New Tabbed View

A week ago, I wrote about my impressions of Gmail's new tabbed view. After giving it a try, I found it gave me more places I had to look before being assured I had handled all of my email.

Since writing that post, I have read two articles which shed light on something with comes along with the tabbed view: ads which appear as emails. In this post from TechCrunch, the author downplays the topic, pointing out that Gmail has always included ads and that the ads which now appear in the tabbed inbox are labeled differently from the legitimate email. Still, to me more low-priority stuff in my email is not a good thing.

Lifehacker reported on the same topic in this post, and went a step further. They give instructions for how to turn off the ads:

1. Go to the Gmail Settings in the upper right-hand corner of Gmail.
2. Select "Configure Inbox."
3. You will see the various tabs which comprise the tabbed view.
4. Uncheck the "Promotions" tab and save.

The solution gives you one less tab to examine when checking email and eliminates these additional ads. I, for one, still prefer the "Priority Inbox."