Daniele Fiandaca collects the best bits from Jocelyn K. Glei's book on how to repair your relationship with email, transforming it from a constant source of stress and distraction into a productive tool again.
The Best Bits: Unsubscribe: How to Kill Email Anxiety, Avoid Distractions, and Get Real Work Done
1. Unsubscribe:
How to Kill Email
Anxiety, Avoid
Distractions, and Get
Real Work Done
The Best Bits
#bookbestbits
2. “A very easy read. Extremely actionable. Has
already inspired me to make changes in my
own habits. A very effective guide to hacking
productivity by not letting e-mail run your life.
Overview from our reviewer:
Daniele Fiandaca, Co-founder, Utopia
13. The Dopamine Effect
When you recognise a task as complete, your brain releases
the neurotransmitter dopamine, which makes you feel good
and makes you want to repeat the behaviour again to feel
more pleasure…..
Email taps into this urge completion concept as well.
14. The Rule of Reciprocity
Numerous experiments have shown that humans tend to
adhere to the rule of reciprocity in social interactions. At its
most basic level this means that we want to respond to a
positive action with another positive action.
15. Askers vs Guessers
In ask culture you are taught that asking for whatever you
need is fine, with the understanding that the person you’re
asking can always decline. In a guess culture you are taught
that you should ask for something if you think you are very
likely to get a yes.
17. “The longer daily time spent on email, the
lower was perceived productivity and the
higher the measured stress.”
Source: E-mail Duration, Batching and Self
Interruption
18. Checking e-mail less frequently reduces
stress
Source: Computers in Human Behaviour 43
20. Write down all the people who regularly e-mail you
Segment them into 3 groups:
VIP
Key collaborators
Fun People
21. Conduct an e-mail audit for one week, noting down
and recurring anxieties, distractions, or inbox
roadblocks as they surface
Think about what you can hack
22. “It helps to ask, “what’s the worst thing that
happens if I don’t answer the e-mail?”
Tavi Gevinson, Editor of Rookie Magazine
24. Jot down tomorrow’s to-do-list before you leave the office every
night
Take 5 minutes at the end of each day to write down “small
wins” - invent progress hacks
Behaviours
Devote the first 60-90 minutes each day to a task that advances
your meaningful work goals
Don’t check your e-mail more than two to three times a day (and
avoid leaving it open in the background)
25. The 2 minute rule
Behaviours (cont.)
Move to bcc
Develop a system for keeping track of your pending items
outside of your inbox
27. "Distraction is the enemy of creativity. It
deadens our ability to accomplish anything of
import. And worse, it lulls us into a feeling of
engagement, of busyness, that feels
productive even as it destroys any possibility
of meaningful productivity.”
Jocelyn K. Glei, Author of Unsubscribe
28. Find More Book Best
Bits at:
www.slideshare.net/
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