Email is Destroying Your Productivity (Cal Newport Interview)

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Broadcast on May 6, 2021

#davidpakmanshow #calnewport #email

[MichaelSmith-fjdi]

I can somewhat agree with this. I almost always check my email as soon as I hear the doorbell sound go off on my phone, and many of the emails that I get are junk. Generally, the only exception is when driving because it's unsafe and against the law. One thing I've done is have my phone on don't disturb between 1 AM and 10 AM so that I don't hear calls, texts, emails, notifications, etc. while sleeping, and the only thing I hear during that time is my alarm. It ruins my productivity for a moment.

[slcpunk]

This is very true in my industry, I spend at least a quarter to a third of the time just managing my inbox than doing the actual work. I think this is mostly an issue for large businesses with hundreds or thousands of users who are emailing departments that provide commonly used services. Imagine the amount of emails going through the IT department of a large multinational business.

[thesneakygamer]

I actually had a coworker get fired because they didn’t respond to their emails outside of work. Another way for corporations/businesses overwork their employees

[danny]

Just based on the headline prior to listening, totally agree. At my job, I can spend an hour writing a document or read and or respond to the 20 some emails I get ever hour

[Tamarind]

These unscheduled messages make work from home without having people ride your ass every second possible. Asynchronous communication is very important. Meetings are usually wasted time, people don’t have the correct, detailed info at hand, and it’s hard to find common times.

[geneg]

Spot on Cal. Not only it effects your productivity but it also effects your mental health in many ways and in ways that you don't even know it. Aim at cutting it down and being less reactive where possible. Your mental health will improve.

[evilchaperone]

I've learned this during covid. Email sucks.

[KenS]

I much prefer email over chat/messenger programs which are usually the solution for "real time" collaboration. Every time I give in and open up hangouts or skype and let the various people who want to bother me have live access my ability to work goes from something to nothing as that chime starts going crazy and since I have to check, as that group does include my actual bosses, I get literally nothing done.

[belkyhernandez]

Look, it's not ADD. If someone sends you an email asking for something at work and you don't answer immediately, you are dragged.

[jaydennis]

Thank you for having this interview David. This issue further contributes to our overly distracted day-to-day and it seems like more people are noticing that most email activity is meaningless or at least inefficient. I guess my solution would be unsubscribe to outside mail and schedule 2 times a day I respond to direct email.

[dankdreamz]

Cellphone addiction doesn't help either.

[positiveandhealthy]

This messages is very strong for me to changing my habits.

[JustSayPie]

Thank you for covering this on your show. Looking forward to diving into the book.

[rodrigosouza]

I believe that back and forth emails will largely depend on the segment or field that a company operates and the kind of work that a person performs. For instance, I did overseas collections of past-due invoices for a large law firm and my main tool to get my work done daily was predominantly via email. Managing the inbox was almost always a daily challenge, but like every means of communication, it has its pros and cons. As long as the volume of messages don't get in the way of a person's productivity, that's fine.

[coyoteboy]

This is just totally wrong and stu-... Hold on, I just got an email.

[yaqoubalshatti]

Man, I so disagree with this take. In my line of work, email is the most efficient and concise way to communicate tasks. It is also a great way to keep track and hold people accountable. I take anytime over teams meetings and in person meetings.

[jssandler]

This is very true. Probably especially a problem with larger organization. I've started to not reply "thank you" so that I don't clutter my colleague's inboxes any more than is needed. We also use Teams chat, which deburdens some emails. But it's a problem.

[Janewomanpower]

I love these types of interviews! Eye openers!

[lotusson]

Good interview. I also spend a lot of time answering emails and here's what I learned... everyone's an imposter. I don't mean imposter syndrome, just straight up imposter. So many of my emails are just people finding ways to pass the buck.

My organization is doing exactly what Cal said, which is hiring more managers to manage more menial tasks which in turn creates more "work" as their real purpose is to find other employees to perform the job they were hired to do.

And just like Cal suggested, we do have a centralized location where information for a project is stored... people don't read it. It's so much easier to send another email for questions that have already been answered.

[brianharris]

For some managers e-mails are the work!