A Procedure for Handling Email Messages While Keeping Your Brain Sharp by VisualandActive.com

Based on a book report about Magnificent Mind at Any Age: Natural Ways to Unleash Your Brain's Maximum Potential by
Daniel G. Amen

Key quote:
Checking for messages is an important way to communicate, but it is better to set aside specific times each day to work on them and leave them alone the rest of the time.
-- Dr. Daniel Amen, Magnificent Mind at Any Age

Highlights from Dr. Amen's book
a) Constantly checking for messages makes our brains "drugged." By distracting our minds, going in a different direction with every new email, voice mail and SMS text that arrives, we lose focus. According to several studies, the effect of juggling new messages with existing work is the equivalent, over the course of a day, to the loss of a night's sleep. "The anticipation of something good keeps us checking something routinely," observes Amen, "but it also distracts us from staying focused on the person or task at hand."

b) The Prefrontal Cortex (PFC) is the "Master Brake" of the Mind. The PFC modulates emotions, keeping us from getting too high or too low. It does not fully develop until we are in our midtwenties, which explains why children and teens appear more emotional than most adults.

c) We can make our brakes (the PFC) stronger. If we give in to impulses, the PFC loses control over our reaction to future temptations. If we resist a negative behavior, the PFC regains some control over future behavior.

In short, "Changing your thoughts changes your brain," concludes Dr. Amen.

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How can we use this information in our daily lives? The following is a short course about "How to Use Dr. Amen's Recommendations about Handling Email Messages"

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Reference: Amen, Daniel G. (2009). Magnificent Mind at Any Age. New York: Random House.

PREPARATION: Set up three folders: "TODAY," "IMPORTANT" and "DONE."
TODAY = email messages that I want to look at and handle today.
IMPORTANT = I need to look at these eventually.
DONE = after I handle them, I move them into the DONE folder. The messages stay in DONE as an archive.

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Remember the rule: OHIO
Only Handle It Once

and

Put important things in the same folder

I handle some things twice because they are important. Otherwise, I just go through the mail (looking at each piece and handling each piece once) AFTER 6 pm to DELETE or ANSWER.

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The Seven Rules

Rule 1: Make a list of what you want to do today.

Rule 2: Sit down first thing in the morning and SCAN (don't read) your email to look for items related to your TO DO list.

Rule 3: If you see an email that you want to respond to, DON'T. MOVE it into a mail folder called "TODAY". If you want to delete a message or look at it later, wait until Rule 5.

Rule 4: If there is an email that is related to your TO DO list, you can read it quickly, but think about getting on with your day instead of responding to the email.

Rule 5: Choose a time in the day when you WILL sort and respond to the email messages. For me, I respond at the end of the day, after the TO DO list is finished (or at least I gave 8 hours of full concentration to the items on my todo list). Look at email messages that need to be done

Rule 6: SORT FIRST, THEN ANSWER the email messages during the "after 6 pm" Email Zone.... after the TO DO list has been attacked.

Rule 7: When this procedure is followed, the items to delete are still in the IN BOX. I can select all of them and delete them.

Here's how I apply these rules

6:45-6:50 am I make my TO DO list. I sit for a moment and give thanks for at least three things or people or thoughts. (Dr. Amen's rule)

Example
Steve's TO DO list
Add a chapter to my book
Contact two companies about the Global Cooling Campaign
Post a youtube video today and a video on my facebook account
Add an article to the FEL and RoadLovers websites
Housework
Garden work
Get cash at the bank.

6:50 to 7:05 am
15 minutes of housework and breakfast prep.

7:05 am Go to my computer (very carefully). I put a post-it note on my screen: "ONLY TO-DO Email messages" -- this is my code: I scan for items that are DIRECTLY related to my TO DO list. When I find a "TO DO" item, I READ it quickly but I don't respond to it (yet). I move the "To Do" email message into my MAIL folder labeled "TODAY." If I see a message that is IMPORTANT but not on my TO Do list, it is for "later," so I put it into the "IMPORTANT" mail folder. If I am smart, I will move items into the IMPORTANT folder at 6 pm.... but I am flexible. (Sometimes I want to know that I have pulled an important item out of the IN BOX, rescuing it from the group that will be deleted).

Examples
1 You have won $23 million
2 notification: fes5slo has commented on your video
3 From Lilia: Here is the translation of your chapter
4 notification: Noel commented on your photo
5 From Jeff: Can we meet for lunch?
6 From Rovinson: Monday training 2 pm Can you attend?
7 notification: Fred updated his facebook profile
8 From Leslie: Can you teach next week?
9 From Noel: Here is an update for the website
10 notification Delclas wants to be your friend on youtube

Here's what I did at 7 a.m.

1 You have won $23 million SKIP
2 notification: fes5slo has commented on your video SKIP
3 From Lilia: Here is the translation of your chapter MOVE to "TODAY"
4 notification: Noel commented on your photo MOVE to "Important"
5 From Jeff: Can we meet for lunch? MOVE to "TODAY"
6 From Rovinson: Monday training 2 pm Can you attend? MOVE to "TODAY"
7 notification: Fred updated his facebook profile SKIP
8 From Leslie: Can you teach next week? MOVE to "TODAY"
9 From Noel: Here is an update for the website SKIP**
10 notification Delclas wants to be your friend on youtube SKIP

**Note about item 9: This could be moved to IMPORTANT, but I prefer to sort later

7:09 am Look at the TODAY folder. The item is related to my TO DO list for today, so I respond to it quickly. If I need to do more writing, I leave it for 6 p.m. or I forward it to my gmail account so I can access it at lunch.

3 From Lilia: Here is the translation of your chapter MOVE to "TODAY"
>> Quick email message to thank her, move the piece into my ongoing book.

5 From Jeff: Can we meet for lunch? MOVE to "TODAY"
>> quick email message to confirm.

6 From Rovinson: Monday training 2 pm Can you attend? MOVE to "TODAY"
>> quick email message to confirm

8 From Leslie: Can you teach next week? MOVE to "TODAY"
>> quick message to tell her, "I will check my schedule, I have to check with another client, I think i can move my clients around. I'll let you know tonight."

After I handle the message, I move the pieces into "DONE" folder.

7:13 am STOP looking at the messages.

7:15 am Time to leave ... off to work.

LUNCH I go to my laptop. I visit my gmail account. I look for the messages that I forwarded at 7:09 am. If I have something related to my TO DO list, then I look at that email message ONLY. I'm halfway through my day, so I am not ready to enter the "Email Zone."

6 pm SORTING TIME: I am ready to go into the "EMAIL ZONE." I've spent the past 12 hours focused on my TO DO list. I can now relax and go to look at Facebook and youtube, SORTING and then READING each item. My email account has dozens of notifications from various services, showing me what other people have done -- perhaps I will respond to them and click "Like" next to their comments. I sort by hitting delete. I look through the day's email messages, hunting for deletes. When I find something I want to respond to, I can move the item into the "Important" folder. The first scan is about deleting.

(ALTERNATIVE: I could hunt for things I want to act on and move each one into "Important" and then delete all that remain in the IN BOX).

1 You have won $23 million DELETE

2 notification: fes5slo has commented on your video Move to "Important" (I like to look at comments that people make on my sites. If I have time, I'll look at his comment now. If the item is important but not urgent, I will move it to Important and visit the site later.)

7 notification: Fred updated his facebook profile Move to "Important" (perhaps it is an important update), or just click through and quickly evaluate the change.

9 From Noel: Here is an update for the website MOVE TO "Important"

10 notification Delclas wants to be your friend on youtube Click through or move to "Important" (It is a good idea to respond when a person takes an interest in a youtube channel)

How many items are in the IN BOX? NONE. I could have skipped item #1 (which I deleted) and then deleted all of the items that were left at the end of the scanning session. (Delete as you go and the remaining items are "important" or move the important emails into "Important" and delete the remaining).

6:03 pm END OF DELETING I have deleted quickly the items that I don't want to see again. Now it is time to look at IMPORTANT messages. I can leave the rest to deal with ... perhaps never, perhaps next week. Examples: I am planning to go on a lecture trip

6:20 pm, I've been sitting for 20 minutes. I stand up and stretch: deep breath. It's time to start the timer: 5 minutes.

6:21 pm I move to my Facebook account and do some updating and commenting.

6:26 pm the timer goes "Ding!" and I move to my youtube account. Set the timer on 5 minutes.

6:31 pm End of Session the timer goes "DING!" and I leave the youtube account. Walk away from the computer.

From 6 to 6:31 pm, I have been in the EMAIL ZONE, responding to whatever comes up. It is the danger zone that Dr. Amen describes as "reducing Intelligence Quotient by 10 points." At 6:31 it is time to do something to balance the brain, so I play ping pong or go for a walk with my sweetheart or call someone to talk about important things, the big things in life and express gratitude.

If my wife sees me on the computer after 6:31p.m., I better be working on something related to my TO DO list or my university studies or homework that my students have sent me.

END OF the Short Course about "How To Handle Email Messages and Keep Your Brain Sharp"

Steve McCrea is a teacher in Fort Lauderdale. His Youtube channel, FreeEnglishLessons, has several videos with more than 150,000 hits. He can be reached at HappyMathTeacher SAT gmail SPOT com. His training video, "That's Edu-tainment," aims to help teachers become facilitators (a guide on the side instead of sages on a stage). Learn more at GuideOnTheSide.com.