This week I’ve got a productivity tip to give you so much more focused time in your classroom.

 

Let’s talk about email, and how often you check it. 

 

I can still remember the exact feeling of sitting in my kneeling desk in my first classroom, watching red flags spring up in the eight different inboxes in my First Class email dashboard. No sooner would I zero out my personal inbox than there would be a new announcement to teachers, or request to coaches, or task for advisors. 

 

It was like playing whack-a-mole, trying to respond to everyone all day long. 

 

But I worked hard at it. Every time I was free before school, between classes, before lunch, after lunch, and before practice, I’d quickly log in so I could reduce the stacking emails in every conference.

 

Whack. Whack. Whack.

 

And so it went on for years.

 

Want to know how much I check my email now? Once a day. Unless I really can’t get through it all, then I might follow up later after turning my attention to another project that needed me more. 

 

Here’s the thing. In my experience, your inbox will be as demanding as you let it be. If you feel you must respond to everyone within 20 minutes, that’s what they’ll expect from you. But really, for almost everything, a day is a totally reasonable turnaround time.

 

Sitting down to respond to emails when you really have the time and energy, instead of task switching in and out of your inbox constantly just to “make progress” can be a huge time saver for you. Not to mention energy and mood saver. The last thing you want is to feel frustrated and angry starting class after getting a problematic email, or to walk into lunch with your mind overwhelmed by an announcement you just read. 

 

Try saving email for one chunk of focused time in the day, and see if you begin to feel more free - in your mood and with your time -  for other aspects of your day that are more rewarding and interesting to you.

 

So, if you’ve ever felt like you’re caught in an email hamster wheel that never ends, this week I highly recommend you try an experiment. Check it once (or if you must, twice) a day for a week instead of 10 or 15 times. See if it’s a win for you.

 

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