
The mindful approach
According to Dr Michael Sinclair, Josie Seydel and Dr Emily Shaw, practitioner psychologists at City Psychology Group, and the authors of Mindfulness for Busy People: “The anxiety at struggling to manage the onslaught of our messages can impair our ability to focus and reduce our efficacy. Here are ten steps to help you master messages mindfully. (1) Begin by taking one minute (time this) to just focus on your breath, ‘cool air in, warm air out’, allow yourself to be here fully, in this moment, just as it is. (2) Allocate a set amount of time to managing your messages and stick to it. (3) Manage only messages in this time, nothing else. (4) Scan through your messages quickly pooling all the sources (texts, emails, calls) – you may well have some duplicate messages that can be quickly discarded.The zen strategies
The best plan is no plan
Miriam Staley, CEO of the Thought Expansion Network, suggested: “It can be extremely difficult not to become overwhelmed by the volume of messages competing for our attention. There is a huge amount of advice out there about the best ways to stay on top of things, with methodologies and practical techniques for filtering, sorting and managing the message-mania. Sometimes though, it can be just as overwhelming trying to keep up with these systems, and yet constantly falling short. “For some, ‘inbox zero’ is the only way to live – with believers convinced that totally clearing out all your messages on a daily basis gives you full peace of mind. Others recommend setting a small number of specific times every day to check email, so that the constant ping of a new, incoming message doesn’t distract from any other tasks at hand. “Some swear by a system that every time you go into your messages, you have to commit to doing one of four things with every message you open: delete, delegate, defer or do. Automatic filters, snooze mechanisms, multiple inboxes and mass archiving are also popular recommendations. “While all of these can be useful and focusing approaches, do you know what works best for me? Giving myself permission to do what works best for me, rather than falling into the trap of replacing any stress I feel about having unmanaged emails in my inbox, with the stress of feeling like I’m not living up to the way that a successful or organised person is supposed to behave.”Share this story