Check your email less often

How often do you check your email? A lot?

Stop checking your email every time a message comes in. Start scheduling time to read and respond to email.

Frittering away 15 or 30 minutes several times a day can put you behind schedule. And, most of the time, reading and writing email is non-billable work. So you’re spending time on something that doesn’t even make you money.

Resolve to only check email at key points of the day, or if you’re waiting for a specific message. And, if you must write and read email throughout the day, at least build it into your quotes for clients — or focus on email messages that make you money. Messages that result in lead generation or sales help you make money. But, again, do you need to read and respond all day?