“Busy-ness” is not equal to progress. Passing/pushing papers, constantly responding to emails, constantly checking social media and attending endless meetings is NOT productivity.” – Productivity Reminders by Tanmay Vora

I couldn’t agree more! Sometimes I feel like I could fill up a full 40-hour work week just answering emails. I sent out 34 emails today. Yes, I counted them, yes, I know that 34 is about 4 more than my daily average, and yes, I also know that I am a nerd for knowing my daily email average.

So, how do I stop the cycle of endless emails from senders who expect a response immediately? Well, Simon Terry suggests to “Pick up the phone”. In Simon’s article titled Five Ways to Make Work More Effective, he says that “a quick phone call will always beat a message for time, urgency and clarity of communication.”

I have found that sometimes a five-minute phone can save you from responding to about five emails asking you questions about that spreadsheet you just sent. Can you imagine how much free time you would have? Let’s say, that it takes you on average about 5 minutes to read and respond to each email and you just avoided five emails, then you would have 20 minutes of your life back. I can think of lots of things that I could get done in 20 minutes.

Leave me a comment and let me know what would you do with your new found free time.

Photo Credit – Josh McKible