BC Business
Email overload | BCBusinessEmail bombardment can reduce your I.Q. by up to 10 points. That sound be enough reason to unplug every now and then.
Email and other message systems can be wonderful – except when they overwhelm you and take away your concentration from more important tasks. A funny story emerged recently in which someone postulated that holidays are bad for your health because they cut your brain power. What really fascinated me was why. It didn’t have a lot to do with the holiday itself, but rather it was about a condition termed “infomania.”
A funny story emerged recently in which someone postulated that holidays are bad for your health because they cut your brain power.
What really fascinated me was why. It didn’t have a lot to do with the holiday itself, but rather it was about a condition termed “infomania.”
Coined by British psychologist Glenn Wilson, the term refers to the “bombardment” of messages – primarily via email, but probably also with social media – that precede holidays. Wilson says this can reduce your I.Q. by up to 10 points.
At last, now we know why we hate email overwhelm. Email overwhelm puts our minds in a permanent state of readiness for the next message, no matter how insipid it might be.
Simply, email makes us stupid.
It wasn’t supposed to happen this way. Email was supposed to help us communicate. Instead it frazzles us continuously.
We all suffer from it. Hundreds of blog posts and entire books have been written about it and how to conquer it. Yet little of it works. The only thing that does is radical surgery on our work habits.
The best method I’ve ever heard: Turn off your email.
I know it sounds radical, but it works. Especially if you’re in a creative pursuit that requires absolute concentration.
Of course, we can’t escape email. But we can control it. Schedule a time, like noon, when you check your email. You’ll notice that 80 per cent of it is garbage, anyway. Then check it at the end of the day, just before you’re about to leave work. That will help you triage it smartly.
Combine that with focus time slots. Focus on a task for 50 minutes. When time’s up, put it aside, take a short break, then start another task for 50 minutes. Focus on it exclusively.
I discovered this process after a couple of business reverses caused by email overwhelm. I couldn’t concentrate on the project at hand and, as a result, didn’t do a very good job.
Now I know why: I was stupid.