7 Reasons to NOT Check Email First Thing in the Morning - Part 4

4: Avoids short-term gratification to achieve longer-term results

Most of the time, when we start the day checking for new messages on email, Facebook or Twitter (or any of the innumerable other ways we can waste time online), we’re not really checking for anything truly important. Isn’t it usually that we’re just idling searching for an excuse to not do the work we know must be done, because it’s tough, boring, uninspiring or unenjoyable.

It’s in our nature to look for any reason to not get on with the difficult or challenging but often important task. We seek the short term gratification of answering an email or some other interruption and then justify this to ourselves later by saying we didn’t get the work done because “I had to answer that question from Jenny” or “I had to dig up a file for Geoff”.

But surely you’re too smart to fall into that trap? Don’t allow yourself the easy ‘out’ by checking your email at the start of the day (or any random time it arrives) as a way of avoiding an important task at hand. Recognize that the task really does need to be done and that it’s easier to do early in the day when you have higher levels of energy and attention. So, as Nike say, ‘just do it’.

Stay tuned for Part 5 next week.

All the best for now!