We all have a love/hate relationship with e-mail don’t we? We love the ease and convenience of being able to bash out a quick e-mail. It gets things off our lists and off our minds. Whatever it might be, we’ve done something about it, we’ve taken action! We’ve sent an e-mail! We hate receiving e-mails (save those big important ones that are the exact response that we needed to our quick e-mails we sent).

But our love of e-mail, I think, is not helpful. The very thing that we love about it, and the way that we therefore often use it, is the very thing that causes most of our frustrations with e-mail. Sending a quick e-mail is not really taking action, it’s merely a delaying tactic that makes us feel busy and like we are achieving something.

Let’s take a step back and acknowledge some of the benefits of e-mail:

1. It is quick. We can send e-mail quickly when we need to
2. It’s frictionless. Compared to other methods of communication, there are fewer barriers to sending an email.
3. It’s immediately delivered. Once sent, we know that it is in the other person’s inbox straight away.
4. It’s accessible. With phones, computers, laptops and tablets we know that we can send an e-mail to anyone from anywhere and we know that they will likely be able to access it from anywhere.

But then, why is it a hidden menace? I believe it is from a productivity point of view but also from a Christian point of view. The benefits of e-mail grant the user great power….but with great power, comes great responsibility. I’m going to give a few reasons why:

1. It is quick.

This is a big issue when it comes to communication. Quick communication is often thoughtless. Thoughtless communication is often unclear and selfish. We’ve all received short one-line emails that make absolutely no sense except in the minds of the people writing them. This is really inefficient as the amount of back and forth that is required to clarify often takes far more time and leaves both parties frustrated. It’s also selfish as a quick e-mail is often mostly aimed at getting something off your agenda, lists and mind and not aimed at effectively putting it onto to someone else’s.

2. It’s frictionless.

Frictionless communication can lead to communication that is unnecessary. I suspect, if we are honest, we would acknowledge that a large proportion of the e-mails we send are a waste of time. They waste your time in writing them and the recipient’s time in dealing with them. Here’s what I mean. We’ve all sent and received e-mails that were incomplete. We bash them out and send them and realise we missed something so we send a follow up, or two or three. Or we send bits and pieces as something evolves over time meaning that in order to piece everything together, our recipient has 4 or 5 e-mails to collate together in order to get a full picture. Frequently these e-mails might be sent days apart and with no subject line which makes this task difficult. Of those e-mails, 1 complete e-mail is necessary, the other 4 are not. But more than that we often send e-mails that are totally useless.

3. It’s immediately delivered.

This is a really bad thing for our productivity. Especially if you have e-mail notifications turned on. Whatever you are doing, most e-mails that come in are likely to be less important. Also, if something comes in that is really urgent and you don’t respond to the e-mail, any sane person will call you. Focus is essential to productivity. E-mail can be a constant distraction that destroys our focus and our productivity. Just yesterday I saw a troubling statistic. A study demonstrated that it takes the average person 23 minutes to refocus after they have been distracted from their work. The same study demonstrated that the average office worker is distracted by something every 6–12 minutes. E-mail accounts for a large part of this.

4. It’s accessible everywhere.

Having access to e-mails everywhere, all of the time, not only destroys your productivity, it can also destroy your ability to be present in whatever you are doing and whoever you are with. This is especially toxic to family life.

So, my approach to e-mail, and what I advocate is exactly the same as what Uncle Ben advocated to Peter Parker. The mantra that Spiderman lives by.

With great power, comes great responsibility

I believe that we should harness the power of e-mail, but to use it responsibly and in a way that is loving, thoughtful and kind in order to protect our own focus and productivity but also that of our recipients. Here are ten top tips on how to do that.

E-mail — The Ten Top Tips

1. Always include a subject line — even if the whole e-mail is in the subject line
2. Ask yourself if you are being clear to someone who isn’t you
3. Disable Notifications for all e-mails. If you need them on for a specific person (e.g. your boss) then try and set it up so you only get notifications for their e-mails
4. Plan in when you will process your e-mail. When you do, process it, don’t just check it.
5. Ask if e-mail is the best form of communication for the issue at hand
6. Filter out newsletters that you don’t read — or unsubscribe!
7. Keep your inbox clear of emails. If you cannot reply immediately then move it to Action Today folder and action it within 24–48 hours as you have time.
8. If you receive and e-mail that is unclear — try calling the person to clarify.
9. Do not consider e-mail urgent communication — either in sending it or receiving it
10. Ask yourself this — do I even need to send an e-mail at all?

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E|F Muses on....

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