First AA, Then NA… Now Emailers Anonymous?

Tue Feb 20, 2007 2:40PM EST

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You've heard of AA and NA. How about EA?

An executive coach from Pennsylvania has created a 12-step program called Emailers Anonymous for clients who say an obsession with email is taking a toll on their productivity and all-around sanity.

Before we get carried away, Marsha Egan's program is not affiliated with Alcoholics Anonymous and she does not hold EA meetings for self-described email-aholics. But she has come up with 12 steps for people who believe email radically cuts into their productivity rather than contributes to it.

Number one on the list, as Reuters reports, is to "admit that e-mail is managing you. Let go of your need to check e-mail every 10 minutes." Egan tells Reuters that one of her clients could not walk by her computer, or anyone else's for that matter, without checking her email.

Think you need to hear some more steps? Answer these questions:

• Do you check email on your BlackBerry (or other smart phone) or on your computer periodically every few minutes.

• Do you check email to avoid doing other work?

• Do you look up at the clock to discover you've been reading and writing emails for the past hour, and none of them have anything to do with the work you need to get done today?

If you come close to saying yes to any of these, and I suspect we all do some days, then Egan's steps, taken as guidance or advice, can help all of us, even if we don't think we're addicted just quite yet.

Step 2: Commit to keeping your inbox empty.

Uh oh. I'd be in trouble there. But some of her other recommendations are common sense pointers we have heard before:

• Establish regular times to review email.

• Deal immediately with any email that can be handled in two minutes or less but create a file for emails that will take longer.

• Do not check email more than three or four times a day.

Egan points out that if email overindulgence is cutting into individual productivity, it has a cumulative effect on overall workplace productivity. She figures that employees, on average, take four minutes to read and deal with one email before they resume working productively.

Time to take stock: Are you an email addict, or just plain unproductive some days more than others?

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Comments on First AA, Then NA… Now Emailers Anonymous?

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  • 46 Posted by waddleduckie1 on Tue Feb 20, 2007 5:11PM EST Report Abuse

    most email are business. Whoever wrote this article better review what he or she previously said and try to think reasonably that no one would send personal email to anybody at work. Most emails that are business related are important because it may list assignments that are due and to ignore this is a bad bet. Also business emails are meeting reminders or for business appointment. Don't you even think that the primary usage of email is just for business purposes and not for just personal issues like family problems or for important appointment for health check ups?

  • 47 Posted by forchaturvedi on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:01PM EDT Report Abuse

    ok so it is wrong and one does realise it is stupid to keep checking all the time..but the solutions offered are not really intelligent either, so we are where we were....

  • 48 Posted by collegemail_adeola on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:28PM EDT Report Abuse

    umm wow. im an email-aholic. haha. i check my email like every 5minutes. but its just that most of our important information and stuff gets delivered via e-mail. so its really not possible to stop. oh well.

  • 49 Posted by justintl494 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:45PM EDT Report Abuse

    Solution = keep yourself entertained. The reason that people click on their inbox constantly is because they have nothing better to do.

  • 50 Posted by cassiefanforever on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:19PM EDT Report Abuse

    But if its like myspace its realy addicted like what if someone send a picture comment or a comment or if your crush has e-mailed u back well thats why Im so hooked on it well hopefuly this helps me out

  • 51 Posted by kb7rky on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:48PM EDT Report Abuse

    As if there weren't enough fake maladies in the world for overpaid psychologists to justify their fees. I'm afraid to ask, but, what's next?

  • 52 Posted by myquaduong on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:31PM EDT Report Abuse

    I am almost severely addicted to my email. I check it almost every 5 minutes.

  • 53 Posted by jude4312 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:43PM EDT Report Abuse

    don't check emails more than 3-4 times a day. don't smoke more than 3-4 cigarettes a day. put water in the fridge if you want it cold. the earth revolves around the sun.

  • 54 Posted by sharzad318 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:17PM EDT Report Abuse

    this should be applied to facebook for college students...

  • 55 Posted by toltecatl12 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:14PM EDT Report Abuse

    This is absolutly ridiculous. People can be just as unproductive even without e-mails. I mean I have read books, newspapers, magazines, done crosswords and many other things just to procrastinate some other remedial task, e-mails are just another method to avoid work that I really don't want to do, and if I didn't have e-mail, then I would do the crossword and vise versa. I imagine that the person who came up with these 12 steps to quit excessive e-mails was probably trying to avoid their own remedial task.

  • 56 Posted by jagesq2005 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:27PM EDT Report Abuse

    I thought there were supposed to be 12 steps. This only tells us 2. What kind of "12 Step" program has only 2 steps? Personally, I think we should all just embrace our inner slacker.

  • 57 Posted by drericdc on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:48PM EDT Report Abuse

    Just a note to say that this whole concept and media stunt is an insult to 12 step programs and the millions of lives they have saved.

  • 58 Posted by lianades on Thu Sep 3, 2009 6:50PM EDT Report Abuse

    This is not helpful in the least. "Keep your inbox empty"... by being that organized. Other handy tips in that vein: if you have clutter around your house, keep your file cabinets and closets empty. Also try to keep your stomach empty and your bank account full, and you're on your way. Bravo!

  • 59 Posted by emmysuedean on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:54PM EDT Report Abuse

    hehe im kinda that way too... its just that im constantly on myspace so everytime i check my email its like "you've got 26,335 emails!"

  • 60 Posted by spunkyarab76 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:37PM EDT Report Abuse

    I agree checking your email every five seconds to see if somebody wrote you is a bit rediculous, however work in a cubicle , for me at least, get pretty boring at times and answering personal emails to escape and refresh is much needed in this day and age of the computer based jobs. I does make sense however to limit the amount of work time you spend on personal issues.

  • 62 Posted by ladyjag73 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:55PM EDT Report Abuse

    This article seems like it was just thrown together at the last minute for filler. Not a whole lot of thought or angles was put into it. For instance, for those of us who telecommute, email is our main connection to our coworkers and the workplace. It is not an addiction or obsession, just the way we communicate so we can get our jobs done. And there's no mention of how to deal with the consequences of limiting checking email only 3-4 times a day. I once had a boss who felt that every email he sent was of utmost importance and highest priority. He would click [Send], then pop up at my desk less than 3 minutes later (literally!) to say "I left you note!" How quickly would I be marched off to HR if I were to tell him, "Yeah, but it's not my designated email checking time. You'll have to wait another 2 hours until my next check."

  • 63 Posted by leevancechurchill on Thu Sep 3, 2009 6:48PM EDT Report Abuse

    Hypochondriacs. How about addressing some real problems? There are countless ways one can squander their time and lose site of their priorities. E-mail is just another one of those ways. E-mail is an indispensable means of communication for both business and personal use.

  • 64 Posted by way_sweet22 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:42PM EDT Report Abuse

    I very much agree with bmxerror on this issue. Why do other people need to solve the publics problem?? No one can help you guys except yourselves.

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