Setting Boundaries with Work Email
So often email, especially work email, can be a trigger for stress. Think about how many unread emails you have in your inbox. Or consider how many you get in a single day. Between work and personal accounts, you are probably swimming in a mix of FYI’s, promotional information, spam, and reminders. Even if you keep up with your inbox, this can be a daunting task.
For some, email can even trigger physiological stress reactions. I have even personally had experiences of having an abrupt shift in mood during an otherwise benign moment after reading an email that then took up way too much of my energy.
Email Overload
Email absolutely can feel intrusive. You’re not sure what you will see or read when you open up your email and therefore, you might be blasted with information, requests, and reply-all hell threads that feel completely overwhelming. And yet - so many people are tied to their email on a constant basis. We are now able to receive notifications of an incoming email in real-time. Even though email is not necessarily intended to be an instantaneous form of communication (that is what instant messages - slack, text, etc. are for), we have certainly started treating it as if it were.
When we treat email that way, we can feel compelled to watch and respond in real-time all day long. This is totally disruptive to our work and life flow. Imagine being in a focused work moment and getting distracted by a ding or badge notification. You stop your work, look at the email, consider how to respond, maybe even look something up you need in order to respond, then craft a response (which could take a while, especially if you are anxious about how it will be read/received) and then try to go back to your original task. Have you lost your train of thought? Probably. Are you being efficient with your time? Definitely not.
Are You Checking Your Email Before You’re Fully Awake?
Or consider another example - checking your email first thing in the morning. Imagine your alarm going off and rolling over to silence it. If you are like most people I talk to (myself included) your alarm clock is also your cell phone. That means you roll over and the first thing you see, even before sitting upright sometimes, is the home screen of your phone. Many people are then in the habit of laying in bed and catching up on notifications - including email. Then, what ends up happening is that before you have even stood up, your mind is in work mode. You may not even be having coherent thoughts and yet you are suddenly jolted into sifting through a pile of information. Not only is that not the best time to be thinking critically about your responses - it doesn’t allow for a very thoughtful start to your day. You are taking on stress unnecessarily.
So what to do? Consider setting up a few boundaries for yourself with your emails. A few small changes can pack a big punch when it comes to adjusting your relationship with your emails.
Five Tips for Setting Email Boundaries
Turn off notifications on your phone
This means silencing noises, vibrations, and badge notifications. You can keep your mail apps on your phone but simply manually check them instead of allowing them to lure you in. You will likely feel less compelled to check it right away. And I know some people might say, I need to know when new emails come through. If that is the case, you can set up parameters on your phone for how often new emails are pushed through. That way you have a bit more control over how frequently you need to check.
Create time blocks for checking emails
Another option is to get into a routine of checking your emails at certain times or a certain number of times a day. For example, you may check at the start of your day, at lunch, and before you end for the day. If it feels important for your role, you could even put into your email signature that you check email during certain times of day so people know to contact you another way for urgent matters.
Don’t keep your email open all day
Some folks might find that they keep email open in a tab or on another screen all day long. That can be distracting in the same way notifications are. It will disrupt workflow and focused time. If your organization or team tends to communicate back and forth via email all day, I’d recommend blocking certain times on your calendar when you don’t have it open. For focused time, close the tab and log back in when you’ve spent sufficient time on the task at hand.
Have “off” hours
Determine a schedule for yourself. It may be appropriate to check your email once after you end your workday but in all likelihood, that is unnecessary. If you can stand it, stop checking your work email after your work day is done and don’t look again until your work day has started. You may decide to have different boundaries with your personal email - but keep in mind that treating it like instant messaging will keep it stressful. Decide on a final time you will check before you are “off” for the night. This may be 5pm or it may be 8pm depending on what works best for you.
Don’t check first thing in the morning!
I know I made a case for this earlier in this post - but I am reiterating here because I feel so strongly about this one. There is no need to start your day with whatever stresses may come from email. Please, at least have a stretch, get out of bed, pee, and have some water before subjecting yourself to email. Even better, wait until you are finished getting ready for work to look at anything work related.
Reach Out for Help
It may sound a bit silly but the stress that can come from checking and responding to emails is real. If you are someone who experiences this kind of stress, consider implementing one or more of these tips. I have seen small changes pack a big punch when it comes to boundaries with your email. I’ve helped many people identify, set, and reap the rewards of changing their relationship to work and emails specifically. If you’d like some help for yourself contact me and we can work together on taking control to reduce the stress.
Summary/TL;DR
Emails can disrupt your workflow and trigger stress. Setting boundaries, like time blocks for checking email, turning off notifications, and not checking first thing in the morning, can help you regain control and improve your focus. Implementing small changes can reduce email-related anxiety and make a big difference in your work-life balance.
