The Worst Addiction ~ at least in my book!

One of what I perceive to be the most prevalent addictions in the world ~ email addiction! I want to ask you - are you controlling your time or is your email controlling your time? If you're in business for yourself and by yourself, which is usually the case when operating a home based business, then removing as many distractions as possible is a must.  In my book one of the biggest distractions and time wasters is your email. Do you have your email program open right now, do you have it open all the time?  If you do, I suggest you change this habit now.  And I mean right now - go ahead log off, then come back to this article. I suggest you don't open it until you complete a few of your priorities first.  There are a lot of people I know that just can't wait to log onto their computer every morning to see what is waiting for them in their in box.  It really is like an addiction, and in reality how many of those emails can wait.  When your email program is open and you hear that little "ding" - do you, like so many others, click on it and read?  If you do, you are not focusing on the task at hand, you are not completing your priorities in a timely manner, you have been distracted.  If you're distracted from the task at hand, then you have to refocus and review where you were, then pick up and start again.   "There is not enough time in a day" - this is a common saying, along with "am I ever busy", when in fact that may not be the case.  The case may be that you are being controlled by your email?  If we don't control our time, we are not being effective, if your emails are controlling you then before long, half of your day or more may have been wasted.    Time to control your addiction: I suggest setting aside some time in the morning and some time in the late afternoon to go through your emails on your terms.  Consider half hour or 45 minutes prior to lunch and then again in the late afternoon, or whatever time best appeals to your schedule.  Deal with each email only once and move on, either respond to it or schedule a time to handle it .  If you just read it and set it aside without effectively dealing with it and you just want to deal with it another time, this will cause you frustration in the long run.    By limiting your time to your email program it will create control over your time.