Procrastinating on replying to emails is the productivity killer we don’t talk about enough?
Do you face the same problem? An email pops up in your inbox, and instead of tackling it immediately, you think, “I’ll get to this later.”
Later turns into hours. Hours turn into days. And by the time you finally respond, you’re either apologizing for the delay, scrambling to address an escalated issue, or realizing the chain of events you’ve delayed has created more work for you.
Procrastinating on emails might seem harmless in the moment, but I realized:
- It clutters our mental space: That unopened email becomes one more thing looming over you, stealing your focus from other tasks.
- It adds to the workload: Delayed responses often result in more follow-ups, unnecessary back-and-forth, or missed deadlines.
- It chips away at relationships...
What I can do now is trying to tackle emails as they come in, especially when they require just a quick reply. For bigger emails, I add a to-do task and schedule time to address them so they don’t slip through the cracks. But I'm not sure it will be working well. Probably AI can be helpful here since I know there are tools that can actually draft emails for you the moment you open it.
So how do you manage email procrastination? I’d love to hear your tips!