You would be hard-pressed to find anyone who doesn't long for more hours in the day. It seems we're just getting started when it's time for lunch or time to go home or time to be somewhere else or time to go to sleep so we can do it all again.

There never seems to be enough hours in the day for the things we want to accomplish.

This persistent feeling of lack sends us on a mad hunt for efficiency, wanting to squeeze as much out of our precious hours as we can. But there's one corner of our busy, productive lives that we leave largely unchecked.

What's the culprit? Our inboxes.

Email is tricky because it feels like we're getting work done. There's a tangible exchange from inbox to outbox, a number that goes down the harder we work and the more time we spend with our eyes glued to the screen. It's the professional hamster wheel—you run and run and run and still find yourself exactly where you started. They just keep coming.

But it's tricky because while we're managing our mail, there's work that isn't getting done.

So, what's the big problem? 

To be good at our jobs, we need time to think, to process, to create and to innovate. We need uninterrupted time to write and read and meet with the people we're working alongside. Email doesn't allow us to accomplish any of this.

The kicker is, we don't just lose the time we're trolling through our inboxes; we lose the time it takes us to get refocused on the task at hand. Each time we allow something to distract us, it takes us 25 minutes to refocus on what we were doing before.

If we repeat this cycle long enough, we'll find ourselves at the end of our day with a slightly tamed inbox and nothing else accomplished.

The truth is that we don't need to instantly respond to emails. 

We've learned to treat them like texts or phone calls, expecting an immediate answer. But if someone urgently needs to speak with us, they can call or text or even stop by our office. Our emails don't require an immediate response, and letting them sit for a while will increase our productivity dramatically.

Instead of letting our days be dictated by our mailboxes, it's time we take back control.

Here's what that looks like:

Schedule a few points during the day when you're going to go check your inbox, and then leave it alone for the rest of the time. You'll save all of the unnecessary time you spent pattering around your inbox as well as the time it takes to refocus after a distraction.

And with fewer distractions, I think we'll discover that there are more hours in the day than we thought.

With more than a dozen years of local church ministry, Justin Lathrop has spent the last several years starting businesses and ministries that partner with pastors and churches to advance the Kingdom. He is the founder of Helpstaff.me (now Vanderbloemen Search), Oaks School of Leadership, and MinistryCoach.tv, all while staying involved in the local church.

For the original article, visit justinlathrop.com.

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