Check Your Email As Rarely As Possible — Here Is Why

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Research shows that average knowledge workers check their email once every 6 minutes. It has a catastrophic effect on our well-being because of the attention switching and inability to get quality work done while being frazzled from both ends.

Of course, we cannot simply blame knowledge workers for their perceived addiction. If the workplace requires constant email checks to get work done, it is not only the fault of each individual. Let us tackle the problem from both ends, both individual habits and organizational workflows.

Fortunately, if you have read this article about how to manage your inbox effectively and this article about how to reduce emails overall, you have officially mastered email. Email is no longer dragging on your psyche, and you can communicate effectively. The answer to the ever-pressing question about how often you should check your inbox would then be…

As rarely as possible.

The reason why: Reducing Noise

In Antifragile, author Nassim Taleb presents the dilemma of checking the news too often. If you check too much, you will not see the forest for the trees but amplify minor hiccups in the…