Boost Productivity, Part 1 – Turn Off Notifications

As for anyone involved in Internet activity – email can become the ultimate time sucker. Customer inquiries, information questions, spam and website notifications.

Today, as the first part in my Boost Productivity set, we’ll be focusing on increasing productivity by turning off email notifications – and setting up a daily task schedule.

Turn Off Notifications

If you’re involved in any social media websites such as Twitter, Plurk, MySpace and/or Facebook – you’re likely barraged by notification emails. Facebook lets you know when someone adds you as a friend, Twitter sends notifications of new Followers, and many other annoying nuisance emails come flying. If you’re anything like myself – there are times when thousands of these emails can come streaming into your inbox on any given day.

For a time – I setup Inbox rules. If any emails came from Twitter or any other social media site – it would be automatically sent to a “social media” folder. Then, weekly, I would go check the folder. I’ve decided though, since that time, that there’s truly no need for these notification emails in the first place.

My reasoning is that they’re completely redundant. When you login to Facebook – you’re instantly met with a list of your latest notifications. If you login to Twitter – your DM’s and new followers are already presented, etc. Taking the time to read and delete these notification emails is a redundant, time sucking waste of time. Wouldn’t it be odd if your family or friends called you up to let you know everytime they went to the bathroom? The same applies here.

In my opinion, the time spent dwelling on new Twitter followers or other meaningless tasks should be put to good use. Instead, take that time and actually interact on your social networks - which will ultimately aid you in building connections faster than anything else possibly can.

In order to stay productive online – I’d recommend turning off all email notifications from your myriad of communities, and then organize a daily schedule.

Develop A Schedule

One important aspect of life is setting up goals and schedules. Each time you logon to your work station/computer in the morning – I’d recommend having a specific schedule to adhere to each day. Make a list of what is needed, and place it in a prominent place. For me, my list would look something like this:

• Check emails
• Read new posts via Google Reader
• Approve and reply to new blog comments
• Check into Twitter, Facebook, FriendFeed & Plurk
• Write a blog post

As you can see – it should be simple, and something that can be easily obtainable. Place your list on a sticky note, and slap it on your desk or monitor. This way – you’ll always be sure to take care of your day-to-day business, and not miss anything important. This will rid yourself of the redundant notification emails sent by your communities.

Conclusion

Although not all would agree with my decision to opt-out of notification emails, I believe it’s a worthwhile route to follow. Our lives are important – and time is not a renewable resource. Every second used to engage in useless tasks means less productivity, less success and less freedom.

Take the time today – and turn off your notifications!

Photo by peasap

Tagged as: boost productivity, myspace, plurk, turn off notifications, Twitter