I’ve had a rocky relationship with email. While it provides an easy (almost too easy) way to communicate with students and colleagues, I’ve long wrestled with trying to manage the endless and seemingly ever-increasing flow of message into my inbox. Over the years I’ve modified how I process email and tried different tools, but with only a modest degree of success. Recently, I’ve begun to significantly rethink my relationship with email. Not just trying new tools or practices, but developing a different, if you will, “email philosophy.” The primary result has been a substantial reduction of email’s place in my work day and the way in which I reply to messages. Here are the main changes I’ve introduced:

1. I’ve restricted my email time each day to no more than 1 hour. I mark the time on my calendar (currently one 30-minute stretch in the morning and a second in the afternoon). It is only during these times that I send or reply to messages. My priority during these periods is sending messages I’ve planned in advance, usually related to a project or follow up with a student. After each email period, I quit my email application. As insignificant as it seems, the extra step to launch the email application introduces just enough friction to substantially reduce the temptation to “just see what’s going on.”
2. For the most part, I’ve stopped writing long, detailed responses to messages (I periodically get lengthy advising-related questions from students). Depending on the message, I either direct the sender to online sources where they can find the necessary information, or recommend they schedule an advising appointment with me.
3. When I send email, I try to use a “process-centric approach” as Cal Newport discusses in Deep Work.¹ When composing email, the message content focuses on the message’s goal (what’s trying to be accomplished) and the process to reach that outcome with a minimal number of emails. For example, when emailing to schedule a meeting: “I propose we meet at Espresso Roma. Here are the days next week with a few times each day when I am available. Let me know which time works for you and I’ll consider your reply as confirmation.” Contrast this with the more typical email asking “when are you available?” and the multitude of back and forth messages that usually results.

Why the change? I have realized email exercised a kind of tyranny over my time and actions. My day and tasks would be shaped largely by what showed up in my inbox any given morning (or moment). I also felt a silent and unconscious pressure, a kind of “mental overhead,” knowing email was filling my inbox and feeling “behind” in responding. In addition, some observations Cal Newport makes in Deep Work about how email and other internet-based tools distract us from what he terms “deep work” have also contributed to my thinking. ²

After introducing the changes listed above, I’ve reorganized my schedule (with the less email time) to devote time to activities more conducive to advancing my career and making a significant contribution to my work as an academic advisor and the advising profession. For example, I was able to create a new presentation—complete with live technology demonstrations and supplemental online materials—and deliver it at a recent NACADA regional conference (something I’ve not been able to do previously). I also have some advising philosophy and practice ideas that I’m working through with the goal of developing them some journal articles.These projects require extended and focused periods of time—without the distraction and interruption from email (and other sources)—to effectively make progress. My reorganized schedule builds in and prioritizes these periods over other tasks, mainly email responding.

I realize that this approach may be controversial. As an academic advisor, my role is all about helping students. I’ve wrestled with this and wondered “If I don’t answer every email promptly and craft detailed responses and request students make an appointment instead am I not serving them as I should?” I’ve resolved this by reminding myself that one of my professional goals is not just to provide advising, but to provide quality advising. Quality advising is rooted in relationships with students. I find that face-to-face interactions are much more likely to produce stronger connections than interaction over email. I would hazard this is a widely shared view in the advising community. In most advising offices the primary activity of advisors is meeting with students in person through walk-in visits and appointments. On average, at least half of my day is devoted to advising appointments. This is time I have specifically for helping students and to do so in a medium—a face-to-face meeting—most conducive to quality advising.

Furthermore, providing quality advising over email can prove challenging. What may appear to be a simple question (“Can I drop this class?”) often has layers of complexity, which are not always easy to uncover through an email exchange. This is much more effectively (and efficiently) done in person (or even over the phone) where a back and forth dialog can illuminate these complexities. Thus, prioritizing in-person advising, while perhaps not giving students a quick, informative response envisioned when they dashed off the email, probably results in advising that is more complete, effective, and ultimately more helpful to students.

Finally, the universe has not imploded, there have been no cries of protest from students, nor has my dean has called me in due to complaints of unsatisfactory email responses. I’ve been able to devote time to more professionally profitable and satisfying activities. Most importantly, I can be fully present when meeting with students without the unconscious call of my inbox.

1. Newport, Cal. Deep Work : Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World. First ed. New York: Grand Central Publishing, 2016, p. 249. ↩︎
2. Newport defines deep work as “the act of focusing without distraction on a cognitively demanding task.” http://calnewport.com/blog/2015/11/20/deep-work-rules-for-focused-success-in-a-distracted-world/ ↩︎