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Email Overload - Not At My Desk All Day
illuscat | Mar 26 2007
My problem is with communication. I'm an academic teaching at two different schools and working another job directing an educational program. I have three different workplaces and no office (except at home). Between my different roles, I get a lot of email and a good deal of voicemail in a given week. During the workday, I'm often in the classroom, in transit, or in seclusion, trying to get papers graded (I teach writing). Because of this, I'm admittedly hard to reach. I feel terrible for making people wait for my responses, and I worry that it causes my professional reputation to suffer, but unless I ignore my other duties, I just can't devote an hour or more each day to getting that inbox to empty. This is complicated by the fact that many things in my inbox are requests I might have to say no to. How do I respond to the 12th student this week to ask for a last-minute letter of recommendation when deep down, I know I don't have the time to do it? The result is that my email has become an unhappy, guilt-ridden place to visit, reminding me of all the people who probably think I have some somehow failed them. Then, even when I do have time, I just don't want to go there... Any suggestions? 10 Comments
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 Email EpiphanySubmitted by illuscat on March 27, 2007 - 7:14pm.
Thank you for your comments. Cornell, after looking at some of the links you posted, I realized that email, in a way, is a godsend for a person like me, who can't answer the phone all the time. And really, most days I do have at least a little email time between my classes and commutes. After a little thought, I see that the overwhelming feeling comes because I let the clutter in my inbox make me do extra work. As one of your links recommended, it's best not to create unrealistic expectations of response times for students, who (if not taught to wait for a response) may come to expect answers to last minute questions at four in the morning the night before a paper is due. For messages from colleagues and potential donors, though, I do want to respond quickly, if I can. The problem is that in my inbox, student emails are mingled with messages from colleagues and interns and the campus pie-making committee. When I do have that hour to get through email, I spend it reading and scanning messages that I've already read but am waiting to respond to while looking for the important and immediate, and I spend three times the amount of time I should on each message. Filters are great, but once something is in a folder, I forget it exists. Today's epiphany? I can write responses to students and save them as drafts in gmail for later sending. This way, I can get these messages written, out of the way, and out of my inbox without creating unrealistic expectations, and I can eliminate the problem of dealing with the same "to-reply-to-soon-but-not-yet" email over and over again. At the same time, I can (once I get the last 74 cleared) see the vast expanse of an open inbox before me. Email nirvana. Okay, maybe I'm an idealist, but it has to be better than what I've got now. Thank you for the inspiration. » POSTED IN:
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