One of the points in the book The 4 Hour Workweek is that you should focus on one project/task at a time and give it your full attention. Email is one of the biggest distractions of all. Author Tim Ferris recommends just reading email two times per day. I tried this and it worked great– for a few days. Then I got back into the old habit of leaving Outlook open. I need to rededicate myself to that limited email schedule. It really helps to focus attention to the project on hand instead of constantly hearing the email beep or checking to see if someone has responded to an email.

In this 24/7 online world we feel like we have to always be connected and technology helps us feel like we can really be in two thousand places at once. Last year I got a new phone — an LG ENV, mainly so I could check email while on the road. I really do love this phone… the keypad is inside the phone so the keys are actually bigger, easier to punch in. Of course there’s a camera and other fun stuff too.

But back to the email… it syncs with whatever email address you set it up to receive. The messages stay on your service provider, so they’ll be in Yahoo, Outlook or whatever if you want to answer an email later when you get back to the office. I have a dozen or more email addresses for certain uses… so not all of them are synced to this phone. Just two for the time being,so I’m able to check work and personal email.

Funny thing though, for all the assurance that I could get to email 24/7 there have been many times when I checked email from the phone and realized those messages really weren’t that important. Usually it’s only one or two that need immediate response.

So do we really need email 24/7? Rationally I know I don’t… but it will take work to a) convince other people of that and b) wean myself off the email drug!