Just open the email, don't waste time prioritising
February 7, 2021โข142 words
Reading time: 1 min
How do you empty your email inbox?
I used to click through my email categories and choose the most important email based on my skimming of the topic.
I found this to be detrimental to productivity. By wasting time on prioritising and choosing, less time is spent on actually on reading the email (or skimming and pressing next if it's not useful).
Our ability to make decisions is limited and takes time to recuperate. By prioritising emails, I chip away at my decision making ability, generating decision fatigue. This slows down further decisions and depresses my ability to make good decisions later on in the day.
Just open the first email or a random email. Don't waste time and mental energy prioritising.
See also:
Choosing what to wear and what to buy generates decision fatigue
Single-task, Don't Multitask