Why you should NOT check email first thing in the morning (6 of 7):

Your morning energy and alertness should be directed to higher priorities 

Many of us complain about the amount of time that is wasted on phone calls and meetings. But how much time do we waste on e-mail? 

If you were asked how long you spend looking at e-mail first thing in the morning, there’s a good chance that you don’t know (or you’d underestimate the amount of time). The problem is, while we think that checking e-mail only takes a few minutes, we can so easily get sucked into other, often low priority, activities that result from opening our e-mail. How often do you start the day with email and find it’s half an hour, half a morning or even half a day before you sit back and say to yourself “now, what I am supposed to be doing today?” 

Each of us has a limited amount of energy and a limited number of truly productive hours each day. For most of us, it’s sometime in the morning (early, mid or late morning) and this time is best used for our highest priority tasks and activities – we should not let e-mail suck us in early in the day and cause us to spend time on it that would be better spent on things that really matter. 

Start your day focussed on your highest priorities (rather than on the inbox) and you are much more likely to achieve the results and outcomes by which you will be judged and rewarded (by yourself as well as others).