Email productivity policy and HTML signature in GMail (chasing the 4-hour work week)
It’s over.
Its not you, its me.
I just can’t be chained to you anymore email.
We’re breaking up.
Reading The Four Hour Work Week has inspired me to do something I should’ve done a long time ago (and would’ve had i know it was possible.) That is, break my all-day, energy-consuming, time-draining addiction to email and free up my energy to be truly productive in all my endeavors.
I was exactly like most Information Workers, spend all day online, and process a constant torrent of emails. This practice effectively prevented me from deep engagement in any one project in favor of a general, “multi-tasking” mediocrity.
One simply can’t maintain depth and focus with constant distraction.
The first move is to limit the times you check email. I chose a particularly low workload period to implement this shift so as not to alarm my clients and vendors. I built a simple auto-signature using basic HTML code and added it to my outgoing mails.
Something like: “Email Productivity Policy: To maintain maximum effectiveness I check email only twice a day at 10am and 4pm MST. If you need to reach me for urgent business call my cell:…
You can take a look at mine here:
I use Gmail so I had to download an extension; Gmail does not allow HTML signatures natively. The Better Gmail extension for the Firefox browser does however and it is easy to implement and has a few extra bells and whistles you might like. I set my signature to float, meaning it will always post directly under my latest writing.
I have had no complaints on this move and I have not missed anything that could not be handled later. I intend to move to once a day soon and can foresee no problems with this shift either.
This simple(though previously frightening) shift has already allowed me to achieve much greater focus, feel a greater sense of productivity and clarity, and be exponentially more productive throughout my workday.
I highly recommend giving it a try.
yeah, dawg! snuff that email!:) I just finished 4-Hour Week and am implementing it now. I also like Bit Literacy’s approach to email in conjunction with Timothy’s.
Keep us updated on your 4-Hour experience:)
-ryan
Nice work man… I have severe resistance boiling-up every time I even think of implementing this process. But I’m also the IT guy, and many times I wait for work to come to me… but that’s what cell-phones are for right? Let us know how it goes.
Hello
Looks good! Very useful, good stuff. Good resources here. Thanks much!
Bye
Hi
Very nice work, admin! Have advised. It is healthy.
Bye
Great website. I want to improve my flexible legislation Wanna joke?) What day does a fish hate? Fry day.