GTD 2006.11: The Email Mastery test

Here's a very simple test that will tell you a lot about your relationship with email. Are you expecting an important email in the next few hours? No? Good - then there's absolutely no reason not to take the Email Mastery Test.

Here's the test:

1. Write down what time it is.
2. Turn off email for the next 120 minutes. That means Outlook, email notification applet in your system tray, the Google Desktop if feeds email to you. All off.
3. Do something productive. Maybe start a project you've been putting off, or read a book or think. Something that does not require opening Outlook.
4. At the end of 120 minutes, test is over.

Here's how to score the test.

Starting with 120 points:
- deduct 40 points for every time you ahead and checked email anyway.
- deduct 30 points for every time you almost checked email and caught yourself.
- deduct 10 points for every time you interrupted what you where doing with the thought, "Should I check my email?"

• If you scored 120 points, congratulations, you're in charge of email and can live a healthy, productive long life.
• If you scored bwetween 120 and 90, you have some issues to resolve.
• If you scored only between 90 and 60, you have some serious issues to resolve.
• If you scored below 60 points, you are in trouble. Serious trouble. You've become a slave to email, and it is your master. Immediate action - like buying a timer and giving yourself only 90 minutes of email a day - is urgently required. Consult your physician now.

Email makes a great servant but a crappy master. Who's in charge here?

(Technorati tags: GTD)

Comments

[Matthew Cornell]

This is a great test, Bob. I've found it very hard to "resist the ringer" - it's like a Pavlovian response - ding, drop work, check, get distracted, etc. And getting back into the "zone" takes a *ton* of work for me. Thanks for the post.