Are you thinking about whether you should log off email while you work?

Do you find it difficult to finish your work tasks and assignments in a timely manner?

If you spend a lot of time in your email inbox at work, then you may want to reconsider how you use your email account on a daily basis.

There’s no doubt about it: email is a key part of our lives.

While email is always available for us to use, there’s no hard and fast rule that says we must be on email at all times.

That’s certainly a refreshing reminder, now isn’t it?

In this blog post you’ll find five key reasons as to why you should log off your email and just work.

And in case you’re wondering, logging off of email doesn’t have to be days-long or week-long affair.

Simply spending less time inside your inbox has many great benefits to you and your routines.

You need to focus on your work.

Pinging message alerts. Popup dialog boxes. Email conversations that go on and on…

When you spend time inside your email inbox at work at all hours, guess what?

You end up being distracted by email! That’s certainly no way to spend your precious time during the day.

What’s more, that’s no way to go about your work or your workload.

Let’s face it: your mind needs to focus on important tasks and assignments.

The easiest way to get something done is to simply put your complete attention to it, and just do it.

Just imagine what it would be like to focus on your work without any distractions.

You could actually concentrate and focus on a complex or problematic task.

You could finish your work in record time. And you could cross items off your to-do list.

That’s not a bad trade-off, now is it?

Your job is more than answering emails.

There’s a good chance your job is much more than just answering emails.

Sure, you use email on a regular basis at your place of work, but you also perform a host of other tasks.

You make plans, create documents, schedule phone meetings, check inventory, attend to customers, participate in conferences, conduct research, and balance budgets.

And that’s just the tip of your work responsibilities!

If you want to get more done, then you should put email in perspective.

You’ve got a lot of other things you’ve got to attend to right at this very moment.

There’s probably something that could use your expertise right now.

What responsibilities do you need to attend to?

What needs your focus, attention, review, or input?

You don’t constantly check your postal inbox.

Here’s a quick question for you: how often do you check your postal inbox?

Do you check it once a day? Perhaps you check it twice a day.

But would you consider or think of checking your postal mailbox every five seconds?

Of course you wouldn’t! That’s a wholly unproductive way to spend your time and energy.

This same logic applies when checking your email inbox every five seconds.

There really is no need to do so! Your email inbox will still capture and hold incoming messages just the same.

Certainly, if you need to wait for an urgent document or file to appear, that’s one thing.

But you really don’t have to sit and watch emails filling up your inbox all day long on a regular basis.

You’ll process emails faster.

What happens when you work under a deadline?

Your work gets done, right? Of course it does.

You have a limited amount of time in which to complete a task. So, you prioritize your work, and focus on completing the task at hand.

Now, I bet you’re wondering, how does this pointer apply to email?

You can apply this very same mode of work to the way you process email.

You don’t have to keep your email open at all times.

Instead, you can block off specific chunks of time to check, answer, and other process emails.

You’ll work more efficiently and you won’t waste valuable time.   

You’ll get more done.

Answering email is par for the course in today’s world of work.

It’s simply a non-negotiable task.

You have to deal with emails, whether it’s first thing in the morning, or towards the end of the work day.

That being said, the good news is that you’ll attend to your email one way or another. The task will get done!

So, how about refocusing your attention on what else needs to get done?

Reframe your work tasks and responsibilities and get out of the habit of spending lots of time in your email.

You can log off and proofread that report, order office supplies, schedule a postponed meeting, or any other task you choose.

It’s a smart decision: turn your attention to getting things done and your productivity will soar!

How about you? Do you keep your email open while you work on your computer? Do you think this helps or hinders your ability to get things done? Join in the conversation and leave a comment below!