1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,360 Well, hello, everybody. Welcome to the Clinician Researcher Podcast. I'm your host, Toyosi 2 00:00:05,360 --> 00:00:09,840 Onwuemene. What a pleasure it is to be talking with you today. Thank you so much for tuning 3 00:00:09,840 --> 00:00:14,720 in. I'm excited about today's topic. I'm talking about mastering your email inbox. 4 00:00:14,720 --> 00:00:20,600 Yes, that's mastering your email inbox. And I know that this is a topic that so many people 5 00:00:20,600 --> 00:00:25,380 talk about, but I want to give you a fresh perspective on mastering your email inbox 6 00:00:25,380 --> 00:00:29,240 that I think you're going to enjoy. And I'm going to share some insights about things 7 00:00:29,240 --> 00:00:33,720 that have worked for me. And I hope that you will also do the same for me and share some 8 00:00:33,720 --> 00:00:38,080 insights about what has worked for you. One of the things that I think is important to 9 00:00:38,080 --> 00:00:42,000 note is that if you're in a master email inbox, you actually do need to be intentional 10 00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:49,840 about email. And so this this episode is really to help you think intentionally and strategically 11 00:00:49,840 --> 00:00:55,280 about how you use your email inbox to your advantage and remove any disadvantages that 12 00:00:55,280 --> 00:01:00,680 your email inbox may have for you. Yes, I talked about being strategic and intentional 13 00:01:00,680 --> 00:01:08,720 to use the advantages and disadvantages of your email inbox to your to your benefit. 14 00:01:08,720 --> 00:01:13,880 So I want to first of all start by telling you that did you know that the average American 15 00:01:13,880 --> 00:01:23,160 receives 120 emails a day? Oh, yes, 120 emails a day. That is a minimum of 10 emails per 16 00:01:23,160 --> 00:01:30,400 hour. If you are considering a 12 day work week of many academics. And if you decided 17 00:01:30,400 --> 00:01:35,720 that it is, you know, an eight day work week, and it very well could be for you. That's 18 00:01:35,720 --> 00:01:42,400 about 30 to 40 emails, right? Is that is that? Right now I have to do the math because I'm 19 00:01:42,400 --> 00:01:46,680 like, wait a minute, how much is 100? I don't I don't know. This is the wrong time for me 20 00:01:46,680 --> 00:01:50,680 to be doing math. But that's a lot of email. That's a lot of email. So the average person 21 00:01:50,680 --> 00:01:55,720 receives a lot of email, email messages day. And if you are just like, okay, I'm just going 22 00:01:55,720 --> 00:02:00,800 to open my email inbox and just let the emails flow in. It's a lot of emails flowing in when 23 00:02:00,800 --> 00:02:06,840 you're supposed to be doing deep work. Okay, so how do we think about our email inboxes? 24 00:02:06,840 --> 00:02:10,080 So the first thing I want to share with you, the very first thing I want to share with 25 00:02:10,080 --> 00:02:15,360 you is that it is important for you to recognize how you create value. This is important. This 26 00:02:15,360 --> 00:02:22,440 is like the overarching thing that you really have to recognize about your, your your life, 27 00:02:22,440 --> 00:02:26,360 right? Is how do you create value? How do you create value at work? Right? You work 28 00:02:26,360 --> 00:02:31,920 for somebody or you may work for yourself. As a researcher, you work to build your research 29 00:02:31,920 --> 00:02:37,360 program and they're their funders who pay you, right? So you have people who expect 30 00:02:37,360 --> 00:02:43,440 something from you because of money they give you. And so for your employer, as a clinician, 31 00:02:43,440 --> 00:02:47,240 they expect that you're going to do some clinical care, create value in the clinical space, 32 00:02:47,240 --> 00:02:52,000 and they pay you for that clinical care. Or in your research program, you have funders 33 00:02:52,000 --> 00:02:55,400 and maybe it's your institution that's funding you part of the way, or maybe it's the NIH 34 00:02:55,400 --> 00:03:00,400 that's funding you, or maybe it's a foundation sponsor, or maybe it's an industry sponsor. 35 00:03:00,400 --> 00:03:04,760 They have an expectation that, hey, we are remitting money to your institution on a regular 36 00:03:04,760 --> 00:03:09,320 basis, we have an expectation for what you create. And so that's important for you to 37 00:03:09,320 --> 00:03:13,200 recognize that in the space in which you work, there was a certain amount of value that's 38 00:03:13,200 --> 00:03:17,720 expected. You may not think about it very much and you may just be like, well, I just 39 00:03:17,720 --> 00:03:23,120 do my work, I get paid and you do. But let me tell you that if you stop creating in the 40 00:03:23,120 --> 00:03:28,120 area for which your people say you have, you're creating value for them, for example, let's 41 00:03:28,120 --> 00:03:32,440 say you don't see patients for a year, you will hear about it because somebody will say, 42 00:03:32,440 --> 00:03:36,080 hey, hey, hey, I think this person's supposed to be creating value this way. And I don't 43 00:03:36,080 --> 00:03:40,820 see, I don't see the receipts, I don't see the benefits. And so you'll hear about it. 44 00:03:40,820 --> 00:03:44,480 But you do your work because you're an amazing physician, you work so hard. In fact, you 45 00:03:44,480 --> 00:03:48,640 probably do more than you're supposed to. And you probably do a lot of things that don't 46 00:03:48,640 --> 00:03:52,760 create value as much as you do things that create value. But it is important for you 47 00:03:52,760 --> 00:04:01,280 to recognize how you create value. Maybe the shorthand for that is how do you make money? 48 00:04:01,280 --> 00:04:07,080 And if it's through grants and funded sponsored projects, it's through creating value through 49 00:04:07,080 --> 00:04:11,120 your research. And so you know that moving your research forward and communicating the 50 00:04:11,120 --> 00:04:17,400 value of your research is how you create value. And partly for some of us and actually for 51 00:04:17,400 --> 00:04:22,680 most of us, it may be more clinical than research. Creating value is what we do in taking care 52 00:04:22,680 --> 00:04:27,360 of patients. More specifically, you make money when you see a patient in close chart that 53 00:04:27,360 --> 00:04:32,120 generates a bill. And so those are the things that create value for your organization. So 54 00:04:32,120 --> 00:04:37,640 it's really important to recognize that. That email is not the primary reason by I mean, 55 00:04:37,640 --> 00:04:42,280 it's not the primary vehicle by which we create value. And you knew that I didn't have to 56 00:04:42,280 --> 00:04:48,480 tell you that. But the reason it's important is to recognize that your email inbox is a 57 00:04:48,480 --> 00:04:54,240 tool to support your value creation. I want to say that one more time. Your email inbox 58 00:04:54,240 --> 00:05:00,600 is a tool to support value creation. It is a tool and it's got to support you. If for 59 00:05:00,600 --> 00:05:05,360 whatever reason your email inbox becomes a competitor of your ability to create value, 60 00:05:05,360 --> 00:05:10,880 or it's a detractor from your ability to create value, then it's no longer supporting you 61 00:05:10,880 --> 00:05:17,640 and it becomes the enemy. But the email inbox is neutral. It is not, it's not out to get 62 00:05:17,640 --> 00:05:22,160 you and it's not out to sabotage you, right? It's also not really out to help you either. 63 00:05:22,160 --> 00:05:28,000 It's just neutral. It's just like, Hey, I'm just the space virtually where I collect these 64 00:05:28,000 --> 00:05:33,120 signals that become emails in your inbox that you can read. I'm very neutral here. I just, 65 00:05:33,120 --> 00:05:39,000 I'm just here. I exist whether you exist or not. And, and it's a neutral, it's a neutral 66 00:05:39,000 --> 00:05:43,440 thing. So it's a tool. And how do we use this tool to our advantage? And I think the first 67 00:05:43,440 --> 00:05:48,560 thing is to recognize how you create value. And because you recognize how you create value, 68 00:05:48,560 --> 00:05:52,680 you put everything else in perspective. If this is the way I create value through my 69 00:05:52,680 --> 00:05:57,520 scholarship, then everything else kind of takes a backseat to creating value through 70 00:05:57,520 --> 00:06:01,560 my scholarship. So creating value through my scholarships, number one. And then if you 71 00:06:01,560 --> 00:06:07,160 create value clinically, it's like, okay, well, creating value through taking care of 72 00:06:07,160 --> 00:06:13,280 patients in the, in a way that I can see them and close a chart that generates a bill. That's 73 00:06:13,280 --> 00:06:18,280 another way that you create value. Now, you may say that I'm kind of just, you know, boiling 74 00:06:18,280 --> 00:06:24,200 it down to its, to its barest bones. And yes, you do a lot more than just see a patient 75 00:06:24,200 --> 00:06:29,760 and bill. I recognize that. But what I'm saying is recognize that in everything you do, if 76 00:06:29,760 --> 00:06:34,520 you take great care of patients and bills are not generated, it is a problem. And you 77 00:06:34,520 --> 00:06:37,920 may not think it's a problem, but I want to, I want to invite you to try it for a month, 78 00:06:37,920 --> 00:06:42,440 right? See patients don't generate a bill, close the chart. And I mean, you're not going 79 00:06:42,440 --> 00:06:45,560 to do that. It's just built into what you do. Closing charts is built into what you 80 00:06:45,560 --> 00:06:49,520 do. And when people are sending you emails and say, Hey, the charts not closed, it's 81 00:06:49,520 --> 00:06:53,960 because they know closing the chart generates the bill. But anyway, I just want to help 82 00:06:53,960 --> 00:06:59,000 you recognize and you already do, but it's important to say, this is the way I create 83 00:06:59,000 --> 00:07:04,960 value at work. If I think about what are my highest priorities at work, then it's got 84 00:07:04,960 --> 00:07:11,240 to be the value you create through your scholarship and the value you create through your clinical 85 00:07:11,240 --> 00:07:16,640 work. Now I want to talk about the value create through education. Now, if you're in an academic 86 00:07:16,640 --> 00:07:20,920 medical center, you teach, right? You, you have fellows in your clinic or you have residents, 87 00:07:20,920 --> 00:07:25,240 you have med students, so you are creating value through education. But if nobody's paying 88 00:07:25,240 --> 00:07:29,280 you to create that value, then education is going to be number three. If you're kind of 89 00:07:29,280 --> 00:07:32,880 going to think about what are your top three things by which you create value. Now, maybe 90 00:07:32,880 --> 00:07:37,000 you have administrative work as part of the value you create. Somebody pays you for a 91 00:07:37,000 --> 00:07:42,040 named medical director role before a named administrative role. Then yes, it's got to 92 00:07:42,040 --> 00:07:47,520 come in your top three. But, but I want you to recognize that if you're paid for it, then 93 00:07:47,520 --> 00:07:52,040 it should be part of the things that you recognize as the value of creating for your organization. 94 00:07:52,040 --> 00:07:55,960 If you're not paid for it, doesn't mean you're not creating value for your organization, 95 00:07:55,960 --> 00:08:01,720 but your organization is telling you that they don't recognize that value you create. 96 00:08:01,720 --> 00:08:05,560 And so if education is a big part of what you're doing, and it's so important to you, 97 00:08:05,560 --> 00:08:09,280 and you feel like it really should be in the top three of your value creation, you even 98 00:08:09,280 --> 00:08:13,320 think it should be number one, then I want to challenge you and I want to invite you 99 00:08:13,320 --> 00:08:19,760 to talk to talk to your senior director or your division director, maybe your chair about 100 00:08:19,760 --> 00:08:27,000 how it can actually be a named, named activity for which values created say, Hey, I'm going 101 00:08:27,000 --> 00:08:30,480 to get money for this activity that I do. Right. And I think it's important. And if 102 00:08:30,480 --> 00:08:36,360 you don't get money for it, I'm not saying it's not valuable. I'm just telling you that 103 00:08:36,360 --> 00:08:41,560 your institution does not value it enough to give you money for it. And, and it's an 104 00:08:41,560 --> 00:08:47,400 opportunity to create conversation around how do I, how do I get that? How do I, how 105 00:08:47,400 --> 00:08:51,960 do I get it recognized that I'm doing this work? Anyway, all right, that feels like a 106 00:08:51,960 --> 00:08:57,000 digression. But anyway, I wanted to say all that to say that when you recognize the value 107 00:08:57,000 --> 00:09:02,320 you create, it helps you put your email inbox in perspective, and in using it as a tool 108 00:09:02,320 --> 00:09:07,040 to support the value you create, but also not allowing it to distract you from creating 109 00:09:07,040 --> 00:09:12,720 value. Okay, that's number one. Number two kind of flows from the first. And it's really 110 00:09:12,720 --> 00:09:17,960 if you recognize the value you create, if you recognize that you are paid to, you know, 111 00:09:17,960 --> 00:09:23,080 to, to move research forward, to answer important questions for your funders, then you recognize 112 00:09:23,080 --> 00:09:29,040 that there are very few activities you do in your day to day, that actually move that 113 00:09:29,040 --> 00:09:34,600 value creation process forward. If clinical care is one of the pieces of the value you 114 00:09:34,600 --> 00:09:40,680 create, and that will depend now on your split, right, whether it's an 80 20 roll or 70 30, 115 00:09:40,680 --> 00:09:50,600 whatever it is, 50 50, recognize that the 20% is really the activities you do that move 116 00:09:50,600 --> 00:09:56,400 that value creation process forward. So for example, I do mostly research. And so, you 117 00:09:56,400 --> 00:10:01,160 know, the funders are giving me money to create value through my research. And so my writing 118 00:10:01,160 --> 00:10:06,840 is so important, right, doing the research, and writing about it or communicating my science, 119 00:10:06,840 --> 00:10:11,480 whether that is through submitted manuscripts, or communicating to future funders, or communicating 120 00:10:11,480 --> 00:10:17,200 to the scientific public about my work, that is value that I created my research program. 121 00:10:17,200 --> 00:10:21,760 And so it becomes really important for me to prioritize that, how do I prioritize that, 122 00:10:21,760 --> 00:10:25,640 it means I start the day with at least 30 minutes of writing, I usually do 90 minutes 123 00:10:25,640 --> 00:10:29,840 as like a first start to my day, I'm like, I've done this 90 minutes, I've moved this 124 00:10:29,840 --> 00:10:35,080 manuscript project forward, I've created that value already, right, the day starts 125 00:10:35,080 --> 00:10:41,920 with value creation. And so that's mastering my my 20% in the value I create it through 126 00:10:41,920 --> 00:10:46,760 my research. Okay, I also create value through my clinical care. For me, that's rounding 127 00:10:46,760 --> 00:10:51,760 on the consult service, I finished the value creation of my research in the morning, and 128 00:10:51,760 --> 00:10:56,360 then I go round on the consult service in the afternoon, I make sure we see patients 129 00:10:56,360 --> 00:11:01,520 and I sign the notes, and I close the chart, to the extent to which you can close the chart 130 00:11:01,520 --> 00:11:05,520 in the inpatient setting, you don't really close the chart, but you sign the note, and 131 00:11:05,520 --> 00:11:10,600 then you bill, and then you've created value through your clinical work. Now, somebody 132 00:11:10,600 --> 00:11:14,920 will call and say, hey, we have a multidisciplinary meeting coming up, and we want all the specialists 133 00:11:14,920 --> 00:11:20,920 to be there. I will tell you that while that is very important and absolutely critical 134 00:11:20,920 --> 00:11:26,280 to moving patient care forward, that multidisciplinary meeting, I will ask myself, do I need to 135 00:11:26,280 --> 00:11:31,920 be there? Right? Is my presence there? Absolutely necessary? Or is there somebody else who can 136 00:11:31,920 --> 00:11:36,640 represent me? Because I recognize that multidisciplinary meeting as a meeting that does not create 137 00:11:36,640 --> 00:11:42,200 value for more organization from the perspective of patients seeing chart closed. Okay, now 138 00:11:42,200 --> 00:11:46,660 I'm not trying to be reductionist about this, but I'm just letting you know how it shapes 139 00:11:46,660 --> 00:11:51,800 the way I think about my 20% in each of these areas. Or somebody calls me and says, hey, 140 00:11:51,800 --> 00:11:57,080 the prior authorization needs to be called in by a physician. I start to laugh actually, 141 00:11:57,080 --> 00:12:01,040 because I'm like, oh, it does need to be called in, but not by me. Who can do this? Who can 142 00:12:01,040 --> 00:12:06,800 do this for me? Because the time I spend on the phone, 20, 30, 40 minutes is not value 143 00:12:06,800 --> 00:12:10,880 created for my organization. Now, is it value created for the patient? Absolutely. Somebody 144 00:12:10,880 --> 00:12:14,640 needs to create that value, but it's not me. And the reason it's not me is because it's 145 00:12:14,640 --> 00:12:20,200 not part of the things that are on my job description for which I am paid, right? It's 146 00:12:20,200 --> 00:12:25,840 not. And I know this may be controversial, but I'm saying that if you are the one calling 147 00:12:25,840 --> 00:12:30,580 all your prior authorizations, it is time to have a conversation with somebody who is 148 00:12:30,580 --> 00:12:36,280 in charge of maybe your division or your department, because you have to understand that the things 149 00:12:36,280 --> 00:12:40,760 for which you are not paid are things that the institution is explicitly saying to you 150 00:12:40,760 --> 00:12:48,800 that they don't value. And if they value it, and they need to find a way to enhance or 151 00:12:48,800 --> 00:12:57,480 to document that value by paying you for it. Okay, I feel like I'm going in a different 152 00:12:57,480 --> 00:13:02,600 direction, but I just want to share that. So we haven't even gotten to email yet, right? 153 00:13:02,600 --> 00:13:07,240 The reason we haven't gotten to email first is just to recognize that email is not number 154 00:13:07,240 --> 00:13:11,520 one, and it's not number two. Number one is recognizing the value you create. Number two 155 00:13:11,520 --> 00:13:18,340 is maximizing your 20%. So the reason that maximizing your 20% is important is because 156 00:13:18,340 --> 00:13:23,240 before you ever get to your email inbox any day, create value first. Create value in the 157 00:13:23,240 --> 00:13:28,480 things for which you are paid, period. Create value first. And the moment you've created 158 00:13:28,480 --> 00:13:34,080 value, and whether that is that you've closed charts, or that you have taken care of your 159 00:13:34,080 --> 00:13:41,240 research investment, then once you've created that value, then your email inbox can possibly 160 00:13:41,240 --> 00:13:46,960 come to the fore, right? It's a tool for communication. It kind of is part of the value creation 161 00:13:46,960 --> 00:13:51,600 process. It's not the most important piece of the value creation process. And so I'm 162 00:13:51,600 --> 00:13:58,600 inviting you to recognize your value and create the value any given day, create value first, 163 00:13:58,600 --> 00:14:05,960 and then go to your email inbox. Now, that moves us to number three. Inherent in what 164 00:14:05,960 --> 00:14:12,840 I said in points one and two, right? Inherent in those two things is that your email inbox 165 00:14:12,840 --> 00:14:17,360 is probably not a place you should be in first thing in the morning. Now, I want to just 166 00:14:17,360 --> 00:14:24,840 put a caveat to that and say that I am in my email inbox sometimes, maybe at 7am. And 167 00:14:24,840 --> 00:14:30,240 that's because honestly, by 7am, I've done, I've done, I'm going to say it, I'm going 168 00:14:30,240 --> 00:14:34,160 to confess that I've done 90 minutes of writing by 7am. Yes, I get up early. I'm an early 169 00:14:34,160 --> 00:14:39,520 riser. I'm a big morning person. I'm very huge morning person. So I wake up early and 170 00:14:39,520 --> 00:14:43,720 I get writing done early in the morning before I start to run around and do things and chase 171 00:14:43,720 --> 00:14:49,280 kids. I do that. And so sometimes at 7am, I am in the email inbox and I'm in my email 172 00:14:49,280 --> 00:14:52,880 inbox because I've created value already. I'm like, I can be here now because I've created 173 00:14:52,880 --> 00:14:58,400 value. So I'm not saying that you can't do email in the morning. There's no can't. There's 174 00:14:58,400 --> 00:15:04,840 only just you making things work for you. But I am saying that until you've created value, 175 00:15:04,840 --> 00:15:08,440 I think you should reconsider whether you should be in your email inbox or not. One 176 00:15:08,440 --> 00:15:14,480 of the ways I get around this is that sometimes I'm doing email at the end of the day and 177 00:15:14,480 --> 00:15:19,240 I will schedule emails for the morning. And I'm so glad that Outlook lets me do that. 178 00:15:19,240 --> 00:15:24,160 That's my work email provider. You may have a different provider, but I'll schedule emails 179 00:15:24,160 --> 00:15:29,360 to arrive in the morning. I'll sometimes clear up my inbox at the end of the day and scheduling 180 00:15:29,360 --> 00:15:34,760 emails to arrive in the morning. So I feel like my morning email work has been done. 181 00:15:34,760 --> 00:15:39,000 emails have been sent out in the morning. Great. Now I feel like I have I have at least 182 00:15:39,000 --> 00:15:42,560 hours in the day before I ever have to go to my inbox because I'm waiting for those 183 00:15:42,560 --> 00:15:46,160 responses. I know they're coming because I scheduled these emails to happen in the morning 184 00:15:46,160 --> 00:15:50,400 and I'm going to come back to those responses probably midday as my first time to touch 185 00:15:50,400 --> 00:15:56,240 email. Okay, so anyway, so I'm saying again, that you got to limit the space for your email. 186 00:15:56,240 --> 00:16:02,080 This is point number three. And in limiting the space for your email, you are defining 187 00:16:02,080 --> 00:16:06,320 when you go to your email inbox. Now for me, that's not like a specific time of day. Like 188 00:16:06,320 --> 00:16:12,360 I only check my email at 11 and 12pm or something. I don't do that. I really do say until I've 189 00:16:12,360 --> 00:16:16,840 done this work, I'm not looking my email inbox. And if there's you know, is a certain 190 00:16:16,840 --> 00:16:21,080 email I'm expecting or I have a certain feeling about, you know, things that are in my inbox, 191 00:16:21,080 --> 00:16:24,840 you know, sometimes they can be anxiety related to like, is there something important that 192 00:16:24,840 --> 00:16:30,400 I'm missing that I'm not responding to? But yes, that anxiety, if it's present, I've 193 00:16:30,400 --> 00:16:35,640 kind of worked against it, I no longer allow my email inbox to drive anxiety. But if that 194 00:16:35,640 --> 00:16:39,280 anxiety is present, then it really drives the value creation process because it's like 195 00:16:39,280 --> 00:16:43,920 I'm not checking email until I've created value, I'm not going to do it. And so if I 196 00:16:43,920 --> 00:16:47,960 really am anxious to check my inbox, and I better be anxious to create value first, and 197 00:16:47,960 --> 00:16:51,960 then I can check my inbox. And so that's that's how I want you to think about limiting the 198 00:16:51,960 --> 00:16:56,600 space for your email is don't allow it to fill your day. And I know there are people 199 00:16:56,600 --> 00:17:03,480 who have their email open and they're just responding all day. It's not efficient. You 200 00:17:03,480 --> 00:17:08,600 have more time in your inbox than you really need to. And it's distracting as well. And 201 00:17:08,600 --> 00:17:13,400 so yes, if you have one of those, you know, bells that ring when you know the Pavlov bell 202 00:17:13,400 --> 00:17:17,440 that rings when your email inbox comes in, I want you to consider turning it off. In 203 00:17:17,440 --> 00:17:21,520 fact, I want you to consider just closing your email inbox thing, just whatever your 204 00:17:21,520 --> 00:17:26,520 provider is just close it for the day. Just don't don't open it until you're ready. 205 00:17:26,520 --> 00:17:30,760 Make email a part of your business, right? It's like it's on my schedule. It's on my 206 00:17:30,760 --> 00:17:35,200 list of things to do for the day. This is the time in which I address email. This is 207 00:17:35,200 --> 00:17:40,800 really important. This is the time in which I address email. So don't let email just take 208 00:17:40,800 --> 00:17:44,080 over your day and you're responding to email in the morning and then the afternoon and 209 00:17:44,080 --> 00:17:47,920 then the evening and then the middle of the night. I know people do that. And I want to 210 00:17:47,920 --> 00:17:51,720 bet you that you have mentors who do that. I want to bet that you have people that you 211 00:17:51,720 --> 00:17:56,200 really respect who are just in the email inbox all day. But I want to invite you to think 212 00:17:56,200 --> 00:18:02,040 about your email inbox is one of your activities for which you create space, you address and 213 00:18:02,040 --> 00:18:06,540 you're done. Because you know what email will be there tomorrow. And one of the great things 214 00:18:06,540 --> 00:18:11,080 about your email inbox is that any email that accumulates will wait for you. Like it's not 215 00:18:11,080 --> 00:18:16,400 a disappearing messages thing. It will wait for you. It'll still be there. And maybe you're 216 00:18:16,400 --> 00:18:19,880 like, no, I don't want I don't want anybody to send me an email and I'm not looking like 217 00:18:19,880 --> 00:18:25,080 I'm responsive. Again, I want I want you to calm down if you're feeling that way. And 218 00:18:25,080 --> 00:18:29,560 I, I sense the anxiety that's related to that. Sometimes there's this feeling like if you 219 00:18:29,560 --> 00:18:33,920 don't respond, people think you're not working. Again, it's so important to clarify how do 220 00:18:33,920 --> 00:18:38,600 you create value for your organization to so important. Because when you understand 221 00:18:38,600 --> 00:18:43,440 how you create value, if anybody's like you didn't respond to my email within 20 minutes, 222 00:18:43,440 --> 00:18:46,320 you need to have a conversation with that person if they're important enough in your 223 00:18:46,320 --> 00:18:51,680 ecosystem to say, Hey, I just want to clarify how I create value for this organization. 224 00:18:51,680 --> 00:18:56,140 And I want to understand how responding within 10 minutes of an email writing my inbox helps 225 00:18:56,140 --> 00:19:00,680 me create that. Right? You need to have those conversations that there are people who are 226 00:19:00,680 --> 00:19:04,680 yelling at you are upset at you in any way, because you're not that responsive. You do 227 00:19:04,680 --> 00:19:09,100 need to have conversations with them about how you create value and what time is needed 228 00:19:09,100 --> 00:19:14,280 to create the value that they respect, or the value for which you are paid. And so if 229 00:19:14,280 --> 00:19:18,560 anybody has an expectation that you're going to respond to emails within 15 minutes as 230 00:19:18,560 --> 00:19:24,540 evidence of productivity, I want you to think about that person. If they're valuable enough 231 00:19:24,540 --> 00:19:30,120 in your ecosystem, have a conversation about your new strategy, and how you're going to 232 00:19:30,120 --> 00:19:34,620 do things from now on so that you can create the value they most love the value that they 233 00:19:34,620 --> 00:19:39,760 most appreciate. And if they say, Hey, that's not what I value. If you're an administration, 234 00:19:39,760 --> 00:19:45,160 maybe that's what's valued. But the important thing is to clarify it, put it on your schedule 235 00:19:45,160 --> 00:19:50,600 so you can limit its encroachment into your entire life. Okay, that's number three, limit 236 00:19:50,600 --> 00:19:56,760 the space for email. Number four, when you do go into your inbox, prioritize the 20% 237 00:19:56,760 --> 00:20:01,120 I'm big on this, this whole thing of like, what are you going to respond to that gives 238 00:20:01,120 --> 00:20:06,380 you the maximum bang for your buck? Invariably in your email inbox is the you know, funny 239 00:20:06,380 --> 00:20:11,320 cat video, somehow your name gone on that, that mailing list and you get the funny cat 240 00:20:11,320 --> 00:20:16,380 video, you might get the Oh, here's what's happening on campus in the coming year. These 241 00:20:16,380 --> 00:20:20,440 are great emails and please, who doesn't love a funny cat video and who doesn't love to 242 00:20:20,440 --> 00:20:23,760 know what's happening on campus? When you go into your email inbox, these are not your 243 00:20:23,760 --> 00:20:30,360 top 20%. They're not. And if you did number three, where you're limiting the space for 244 00:20:30,360 --> 00:20:34,560 your email, you may have 30 minutes on your calendar to process email. So you want to 245 00:20:34,560 --> 00:20:39,440 go to the email that's most important, scan your inbox and say, Oh, I got an email from 246 00:20:39,440 --> 00:20:43,800 the editor of the journal about the journal that I submitted. That's kind of like a 20% 247 00:20:43,800 --> 00:20:50,080 email. I would address that first. And okay, maybe there's an email inbox about you know, 248 00:20:50,080 --> 00:20:54,680 a patient chart that you haven't closed. That's kind of like the 20% of your clinical. Okay, 249 00:20:54,680 --> 00:20:59,160 I would address that. You know, so you know, I don't need to tell you but what I'm saying 250 00:20:59,160 --> 00:21:03,680 is that don't just process your email from top to bottom. If you have time, okay, maybe 251 00:21:03,680 --> 00:21:08,400 you do that. Sometimes I like to do that because I like to go from the beginning to the end. 252 00:21:08,400 --> 00:21:12,240 But when I when I have a minimum amount of time and I recognize that's like, I'm not 253 00:21:12,240 --> 00:21:16,440 going to be done with this in 30 minutes or 15 minutes, however many much time I, I have 254 00:21:16,440 --> 00:21:20,840 allotted to the email on my schedule that day, I go through and I prioritize the 20%. 255 00:21:20,840 --> 00:21:25,600 I get them answered and I get them done. If there's if it's an email that can be responded 256 00:21:25,600 --> 00:21:29,800 to right away, I responded to it right away. If it's an email, it's going to take time 257 00:21:29,800 --> 00:21:36,000 or I really need to think about the response. I will I will create a time for it on my calendar, 258 00:21:36,000 --> 00:21:40,080 but more about that a little bit later. I want to I'm going to talk about that a little 259 00:21:40,080 --> 00:21:44,000 bit later. But I do want to remind you, I'm talking about focusing on the 20% of your 260 00:21:44,000 --> 00:21:47,560 email inbox, start with the things that are most important and knock them out. And then 261 00:21:47,560 --> 00:21:51,480 if the time comes where it's like, oh, it's been 30 minutes and there's still 50 emails 262 00:21:51,480 --> 00:21:56,360 left to process. You can feel confident you've addressed the most important and you can exit 263 00:21:56,360 --> 00:22:00,040 your inbox for that time, knowing that you can come back later to address the things 264 00:22:00,040 --> 00:22:05,920 that are not so important, but not so critical. Now should every email be responded to actually 265 00:22:05,920 --> 00:22:10,400 that's that's an important question. Every email doesn't require response for the emails 266 00:22:10,400 --> 00:22:14,680 that require response, you do want to respond, they may not be that critical. And so you 267 00:22:14,680 --> 00:22:19,120 can take your time to respond. But definitely when it comes to your email inbox, when you 268 00:22:19,120 --> 00:22:26,240 open it be very clear about the 20% and create that 20%. Okay, I mean, create that value 269 00:22:26,240 --> 00:22:32,040 in your email inbox. Don't let don't don't treat every email the same, right? Don't say, 270 00:22:32,040 --> 00:22:36,040 you know, I've got to respond to all 40 all 40 are equally important, you know, they're 271 00:22:36,040 --> 00:22:40,920 not. And so prioritize the ones that are important. Okay, number five is to keep your responses 272 00:22:40,920 --> 00:22:46,080 short. Okay, this is really important. It took me so many years to learn this. I just 273 00:22:46,080 --> 00:22:50,520 want to just, you know, emphasize the importance of keeping email responses short. Now there 274 00:22:50,520 --> 00:22:55,920 are some emails to which the responses cannot be short. That is the clue that it is not 275 00:22:55,920 --> 00:23:02,720 an email, it should be a meeting. And somebody sends you an email, you're like, Oh, no, I've 276 00:23:02,720 --> 00:23:06,280 got to make point number one, and then point number two, point number four, point number 277 00:23:06,280 --> 00:23:11,800 five, point number eight, point number 20. Oh, it's like, okay, okay, clearly, maybe 278 00:23:11,800 --> 00:23:17,240 it's not an email. Maybe this really should be a conversation. And if you if you recall, 279 00:23:17,240 --> 00:23:22,320 many of these emails are emails that either you're so mad, you're so upset, there's emotion 280 00:23:22,320 --> 00:23:27,560 behind an email that's 20, you know, 20 paragraphs long, there's real emotion there. You have 281 00:23:27,560 --> 00:23:32,200 to recognize that if it's getting if it's getting long, that should be a conversation 282 00:23:32,200 --> 00:23:37,080 happening, it should not be in the email inbox. So I want to encourage you to think if you 283 00:23:37,080 --> 00:23:41,840 start to respond to an email, and you're you have three paragraphs, stop and say, should 284 00:23:41,840 --> 00:23:47,240 this be an email or should this be a meeting? So my my encouragement to you and again, point 285 00:23:47,240 --> 00:23:52,160 number five is keep responses short. So you know, email is a mode of communication, but 286 00:23:52,160 --> 00:23:57,040 it's not the only mode of communication. Keep the responses short, hey, we're looking for 287 00:23:57,040 --> 00:24:01,720 providers, we're going to take an extra day of call this week, because suddenly somebody's 288 00:24:01,720 --> 00:24:06,720 not available to take call, say, yes, I'm available to do it on Friday at 10. On Friday, 289 00:24:06,720 --> 00:24:12,000 I can do I can do call from, you know, 8am to noon. Or you say no, I do not have space 290 00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:17,920 on my calendar to do this. Keep it short and sweet. Now, if you're writing, hey, I really 291 00:24:17,920 --> 00:24:21,880 want to do this. But you know, Friday is like the only day that I have for my administrative 292 00:24:21,880 --> 00:24:26,680 day. And I already have a meeting scheduled at my children's daycare. And then I have 293 00:24:26,680 --> 00:24:30,480 the appointment with my eye doctor, not been able to create this eye doctor appointment 294 00:24:30,480 --> 00:24:35,480 for so long. And then after that, I've scheduled time for like myself massage therapy, and 295 00:24:35,480 --> 00:24:40,680 I don't want to really cancel it. I know the call needs to happen. But wow, too much information. 296 00:24:40,680 --> 00:24:48,000 Oh, the email is getting too long. And who needs all that information anyway? Please 297 00:24:48,000 --> 00:24:52,120 not do it. If that's what you do spend a lot of time explaining, please don't just say 298 00:24:52,120 --> 00:24:57,560 yes, I can do it at this time or say no, I'm unavailable. No is a really short sentence. 299 00:24:57,560 --> 00:25:02,480 People say you can just say, Oh, be done. I say, say no and say I'm not available or 300 00:25:02,480 --> 00:25:08,840 you can say no, I wish I could say no. Add like a sentence to soften the blow of the 301 00:25:08,840 --> 00:25:15,240 no and be done. Don't spend time explaining. Your job in life is not to explain yourself 302 00:25:15,240 --> 00:25:19,960 to anybody. Because you know, to be honest, how many explanations do you believe anyway? 303 00:25:19,960 --> 00:25:23,120 Really, you believe none of them. And if you really want an explanation, you pick up the 304 00:25:23,120 --> 00:25:27,120 phone or you page someone and say, Hey, can I understand why you're not available? That's 305 00:25:27,120 --> 00:25:31,120 great. Have a conversation outside your inbox, but your inbox is not really the place where 306 00:25:31,120 --> 00:25:37,680 you explain yourself. Keep answers short and pithy and sweet. And again, I'm just talking 307 00:25:37,680 --> 00:25:40,840 about the things that have worked for me. And I would love for you to share about the 308 00:25:40,840 --> 00:25:45,400 things that work for you. But short emails are helpful because they help me recognize 309 00:25:45,400 --> 00:25:51,360 if an email is becoming long, probably a conversation needs to happen. All right. Number six, create 310 00:25:51,360 --> 00:25:57,120 rules for junk. Okay, create rules for junk. What does that mean? You get so much junk 311 00:25:57,120 --> 00:26:01,240 coming into your email inbox. If you have been in your faculty position for more than 312 00:26:01,240 --> 00:26:06,840 a year, wow, the number of things for which I don't even know how you get on those mailing 313 00:26:06,840 --> 00:26:11,840 lists, but you clearly do. You get a lot of things that are junky. And to be honest, there's 314 00:26:11,840 --> 00:26:18,440 like a list of emails you get that are kind of recurrent. And so create rules. I love 315 00:26:18,440 --> 00:26:23,640 the outlook. And that's my email manager, you know, the rules for create for addressing 316 00:26:23,640 --> 00:26:29,080 junk. And so I'll say, okay, sweep any message from this provider. And you know, it'll come 317 00:26:29,080 --> 00:26:34,000 up like there's a sweep icon. And it says, and then I can, I can set the rule for how 318 00:26:34,000 --> 00:26:38,320 to handle this email in the future. I'll say this email and future emails should go to 319 00:26:38,320 --> 00:26:43,440 deleted items right away. This email and future items should go to newsletters because sometimes 320 00:26:43,440 --> 00:26:48,040 I do appreciate the newsletters that come from my society. And once in a while, I don't 321 00:26:48,040 --> 00:26:51,520 mind reading them. I just don't want them in my inbox. And so I'll create rules to send 322 00:26:51,520 --> 00:26:56,240 them to my newsletter folder. Those are the two rules that I have for everything else. 323 00:26:56,240 --> 00:27:00,480 You know, it's either going to go into deleted items right away. Sometimes I find that junk 324 00:27:00,480 --> 00:27:05,560 at like addressing something as junk doesn't always work. And so I'm very clear about the 325 00:27:05,560 --> 00:27:10,840 any emails from this email address should go to deleted items right away. And that helps 326 00:27:10,840 --> 00:27:15,320 me it helps me declutter the number of things that come into my inbox so that at least most 327 00:27:15,320 --> 00:27:19,520 of the things that are there are things that are important. Now, clearly a lot of things 328 00:27:19,520 --> 00:27:25,240 pass through the filter. And so I'm very focused the day I have time for email. And I can do 329 00:27:25,240 --> 00:27:29,900 more than just the 20% any email I see that I'm like, Oh, I don't want this in my inbox. 330 00:27:29,900 --> 00:27:34,000 I think instead of just deleting it, I'm going to create a rule to make sure it permanently 331 00:27:34,000 --> 00:27:37,400 doesn't come in again. And you'll find that that does decrease the bulk of the emails 332 00:27:37,400 --> 00:27:42,880 that you have. And I recommend that. Okay, create rules for junk. That's number six. 333 00:27:42,880 --> 00:27:48,200 Number seven is schedule anything that cannot be responded to immediately for everything 334 00:27:48,200 --> 00:27:52,920 else respond and archive immediately. Okay, that's long. What I'm saying is that there 335 00:27:52,920 --> 00:27:58,200 are some emails that are not just it's not just a yes or no response. They're asking 336 00:27:58,200 --> 00:28:03,400 when can you meet for this important thing after which you've after which you've reviewed 337 00:28:03,400 --> 00:28:07,000 the paper, right? Well, that's like three things. It's like, well, I need to tell you 338 00:28:07,000 --> 00:28:11,480 when I'm available. So I need to check my calendar and check my schedule. I also need 339 00:28:11,480 --> 00:28:17,400 to read this paper. Great after schedule time to read this paper. And, and then I need to 340 00:28:17,400 --> 00:28:21,360 I need to respond to my availability. So the three things that need to happen, that's going 341 00:28:21,360 --> 00:28:27,600 to take probably more than 10 minutes to respond to, right? I think those gosh, I think I've 342 00:28:27,600 --> 00:28:30,920 heard the rule of twos, like if it takes you more than two minutes to handle this email, 343 00:28:30,920 --> 00:28:35,320 then you should schedule it. And so schedule the email, put it on your calendar. And it's 344 00:28:35,320 --> 00:28:39,600 important because there are a number of things that need to happen for this email to be responded 345 00:28:39,600 --> 00:28:43,200 to. It's not just an email you can you can just address right away. So schedule it, put 346 00:28:43,200 --> 00:28:49,360 it on your calendar. So the deadline for this response to the email, they tell you is March 347 00:28:49,360 --> 00:28:55,480 15. Perfect. Put it on your calendar for March 14. And put it on your calendar, like actually 348 00:28:55,480 --> 00:29:00,600 create an appointment for that email on your calendar. And think about it, I need 30 minutes 349 00:29:00,600 --> 00:29:05,840 to review this article, make comments, and then clarify when I'm available to meet, put 350 00:29:05,840 --> 00:29:10,000 it on your calendar for 30 minutes. The great thing about putting it on your calendar for 351 00:29:10,000 --> 00:29:14,680 a day before the deadline is that deadlines force action. Like you could spend two hours 352 00:29:14,680 --> 00:29:19,760 reading that calendar that that that article, you could spend two hours and you can spend 353 00:29:19,760 --> 00:29:24,520 you can spend three days. But if it's due, then you're going to more likely compress 354 00:29:24,520 --> 00:29:28,800 the time and say it's due, I need to do this right away. I do this honestly, for my grant 355 00:29:28,800 --> 00:29:33,480 review. So when I have a grant review responsibilities, and they tell me that, oh, the grant deadline 356 00:29:33,480 --> 00:29:41,240 is, you know, on Monday, October 9, yes, I will see how many grants do I need to review? 357 00:29:41,240 --> 00:29:45,440 How long how, what's the reasonable expectation for how much time should be spent reviewing 358 00:29:45,440 --> 00:29:49,280 these grants? And then I put them on the calendar for close to the deadline. And that means 359 00:29:49,280 --> 00:29:54,400 I don't spend more time reviewing than I absolutely need to. It does mean sometimes I, you know, 360 00:29:54,400 --> 00:29:57,800 sometimes you underestimate and then it's like, okay, great. Noted for next time, I 361 00:29:57,800 --> 00:30:04,120 need more time. But deadlines force action. And so I use deadlines to my advantage. I 362 00:30:04,120 --> 00:30:08,080 schedule any email that needs more time to be responded to, I schedule it close to the 363 00:30:08,080 --> 00:30:11,600 deadline for the response. And if there's no deadline set in the email, I create my 364 00:30:11,600 --> 00:30:15,240 own deadline. I say it's reasonable for me to respond to this email within the next 48 365 00:30:15,240 --> 00:30:19,240 hours. Actually, most of these emails that need work, I will ever respond to them next 366 00:30:19,240 --> 00:30:23,860 week, I'll put them on my calendar for the following week, and I'll do that. And it allows 367 00:30:23,860 --> 00:30:27,760 me to set aside time for them. As soon as I've scheduled it and put it on the calendar, 368 00:30:27,760 --> 00:30:31,960 I clear it from my inbox, I archive it. That means it's been addressed, or it's going 369 00:30:31,960 --> 00:30:36,360 to be addressed in the future and no longer sits in my inbox. And I'll tell you one hack 370 00:30:36,360 --> 00:30:40,840 that I do, and this is something I do probably about once a week is I'll go to inbox zero, 371 00:30:40,840 --> 00:30:45,360 I absolutely will. I will set aside a time where I'm like, my goal is to process to inbox 372 00:30:45,360 --> 00:30:49,880 zero. Now I've been doing this for a while. So I'm not processing 3000 emails to inbox 373 00:30:49,880 --> 00:30:54,560 zero, I guess I did that a few years ago. But I do that now. I'm like, you know, it 374 00:30:54,560 --> 00:30:58,920 may be Thursday, I'm like, I'm processing to inbox zero. And anything that is going 375 00:30:58,920 --> 00:31:02,960 to take a little bit of time, I schedule in the future on my calendar, and then I archive 376 00:31:02,960 --> 00:31:06,540 the email, and everything else that can be responded to, I respond right away, everything 377 00:31:06,540 --> 00:31:10,800 else gets deleted, right? And so I'm able to do that. And it helps me because I feel 378 00:31:10,800 --> 00:31:15,560 like, okay, I've done this, and now I have at least 24 hours before I really need to 379 00:31:15,560 --> 00:31:20,360 look in the in the email inbox and see what needs to be done. All right, I've shared a 380 00:31:20,360 --> 00:31:24,480 lot of things with you today, I'm going to just summarize everything. Number one, recognize 381 00:31:24,480 --> 00:31:29,480 how you create value. Number two, master your 20%. And the three limit the space for email. 382 00:31:29,480 --> 00:31:34,800 And before respond to the 20% first, and the five keep your responses short, or six, create 383 00:31:34,800 --> 00:31:39,520 rules for junk. Number seven, schedule tasks that take a little bit more time and archive 384 00:31:39,520 --> 00:31:44,480 everything so that as long as as soon as you scheduled it, it's archived. All right, those 385 00:31:44,480 --> 00:31:49,200 are some of the ideas I have for managing email, I'm interested to hear how you manage 386 00:31:49,200 --> 00:31:53,400 email. And I'd love for you to share about it. And I want to share that, you know, at 387 00:31:53,400 --> 00:31:57,960 the end of the day, this really is about being strategic and intentional, you're the way 388 00:31:57,960 --> 00:32:02,840 the strategies you use are not as important as the fact that you use strategies that you're 389 00:32:02,840 --> 00:32:08,160 not just a passive consumer of email, that email somehow is taking over your life. All 390 00:32:08,160 --> 00:32:12,160 right, I'm excited to talk to you today about the email inbox, you know, a mentee, you 391 00:32:12,160 --> 00:32:16,280 know, a colleague, you know, a mentor, maybe, who needs to listen to this and share with 392 00:32:16,280 --> 00:32:20,640 their networks. And I invite you to share this episode widely. Thank you so much for 393 00:32:20,640 --> 00:32:24,440 listening today. It's been a pleasure to talk with you. I look forward to talking with you 394 00:32:24,440 --> 00:32:42,840 again on the next episode of the clinician researcher podcast.