The Two-Computer Solution to E-mail Addiction

Hello, my name is C.C., and I'm an e-mail addict.

So far, every intervention I've tried has failed. The batching method, the twice-a-day approach, the dedicated e-mail hour? Nope. The siren song of that Outlook icon in my system tray often proves more than I can handle.

And that's not good for me. I have a tendency to procrastinate, and nothing swerves me off-course faster than a juicy e-mail -- or, depending on the tedium of my current work task, even a boring e-mail newsletter. What's worse, every time I check my inbox, it knocks my productivity for a loop.

But I'm trying a new experiment to help curb my e-mail habit. Here's my thought: If I physically make it harder to check e-mail, can I rein myself in? Kind of like locking the chocolate in a high cabinet and putting the key under a rock in the garden. If I have to jump through enough hoops to cave in to the craving, maybe I can better fight that urge.

Like many of you, probably, I have a laptop as well as a desktop PC. So this morning I fired up my laptop, put it on a table across my office (where I'd have to get up from my desk and walk over to it to access it) and resolved to only check e-mail there. I removed all shortcuts to e-mail applications on my desktop PC so I wouldn't be tempted to cheat.

Will it work? Well, so far today, I've made good on my promise to only check my e-mail hourly. And because I have to physically interrupt myself to do this, rather than just clicking my mouse without leaving my chair, I'm very cognizant of when I'm choosing to take an e-mail break.

I'm going to let the experiment run all week, and I'll let you know how it goes next Monday. In the meantime, tell me in the comments section if you think this is a good idea, or if you have any other suggestions for how to keep my e-mail habit in check.

(image by trekkyandy via Flickr, CC 2.0)