Many of us are finding the trek towards “In-box zero” (an empty in-box with no emails awaiting response/action) impossible. In an era of mobile devices, instant connectivity, and automated mailing lists and notifications, it is all-to-easy for people email you. As a consequence, we live our lives staying afloat. Our ability to prioritize and control our focus is crippled by the unyielding flow of incoming communication: email, texts, tweets, facebook messages, phone calls, etc.
Without realizing it, most of us have entered the new era of what I have come to call “reactionary workflow.” Rather than being proactive with our energy, we are acting in response to what is incoming. We have relinquished control of our focus. It has become harder and harder to embark on our work with intention.
Amidst the research for my upcoming book (on extremely productive people/teams in the creative world), I have found that the “uber productive” have found ways to defy this new and dangerous trend. They impose discipline on themselves and set up blockades when necessary. And they have a “separation of church and state” philosophy for communications and actionable stuff.
How to avoid a life of reactionary workflow? It all starts with some discipline (and imposing some blockades around your focus). I have interviewed a number of people who literally quit (or minimize) their email program at certain times during the day. Piers Fawkes, founder and editor of PSFK, actually reserves his morning – from 7-10am every day – to do research and digest the day’s trends/news prior to going through his email. Impose some discipline on yourself to ensure that adequate time is spent on proactively creating stuff (rather than just responding!).
You should also consider keeping the “actionable” stuff in your life separate from everything else. Very productive leaders keep their action steps separate from their email and calendars. Whether through post-it notes, action management programs (like ActionMethod.com), or even using a separate color pen or notebook for stuff that starts with verbs (things requiring action!), try to manage your action steps in a sacred space. Doing so will empower you to prioritize and focus on the stuff you want (and need) to do, rather than living a life reacting to whatever flows in!
