Want to start feeling better about your inbox now?

The one two punch: Turn all of your notifications off and set regular intervals for checking your emails.  

Turn off the outlook envelope that pops up. 

Turn off all sound notifications. 

Turn off the symbol on your phone email that tells you how many emails you have. 

And, in conjunction with that, decide in advance how often you are going to check your email. 

You are going to get a ton of emails, and that number is only going to increase the longer that you practice. 

The thing I see happening for so many associates (and lawyers in general) is that they get so anxious about responding to emails immediately that it interrupts getting substantive work done. And because they are focused on being hyperresponsive, those notifications for new email then cause a ton of anxiety and disruption, which also makes it hard to do your best work.

It can take anywhere from 9-23 minutes to regain your focus after you task switch. So every time you check your email or even your DMs, it’s going to take time out of your day to switch back to your substantive work - which means you will be spending more hours in the office or at your computer to get the same amount of work done. In the billable hour model, it makes zero sense to keep on the way you’ve been doing things. 

For most practices, nothing is going to fall apart if you check your email every hour or every 30 minutes or every hour, instead of incessantly turning to your email every time you see a new notification. And if you are planning to check your emails at regular intervals, you can feel comfortable turning those notifications off. In the long run, it’s going to make you more productive and less anxious, which will make you better at your job.

Want to learn more about managing your inbox and, more importantly, feeling better about it?

Join me for my FREE Survival School for Associates webinar on Managing Your Inbox - Tuesday November 14 at 1pm EST. 

We’re going to talk about (a) a strategy you can implement to manage your inbox more effectively and (b) how to tackle all those negative emotions you have about your inbox. 

The link to register is here: https://mailchi.mp/jenndealcoaching/survival-school-for-associates