It only took me a few days to get used to not always being in my inbox. I expected to struggle for weeks, but overall it has been a pretty painless transition to only checking email 2-3 times a day.

To be fair, I’m not cutting back to the 1-2 times per week that Tim Ferriss champions in The 4-Hour Workweek, but not checking my email before I’ve rolled out of bed and taking the weekends off feels like a solid success regardless.

In the past two weeks I didn’t miss any important emails that needed immediate attention. I set up interviews, pitched publications, connected with editors and new clients, took assignments, and generally continued on business as usual without anyone noticing.

Now

My email is only open when it’s on my calendar. For the most part I check my email after I finish my first big task(s) for the morning (around 10:30 a.m.) and again after lunch/early afternoon. If I am waiting for a specific email, I may change the times I check based on when I think it will arrive. This is also when I will check one more time (3 total for the day) before I stop working.

Benefits

With a time limit on when I can email, I am much more efficient. I usually read and respond for 30 minutes or less each time. I respond to everything that requires a response within the day instead of putting off the things I don’t want to deal with for some indeterminate time in the future.

I used to incessantly check my inbox. It was the perfect distraction from the tasks that were challenging or that I wanted to avoid. Now I put them on my calendar and do them without disruption (for the most part. I still need to work on not moving calendar items to the next day when I could get them done now).

More than anything else, checking my email 2-3 times a day has opened my eyes to how frequently I used it to sabotage my productivity and waste time. I started doing this to get more done in less time. So far so good!