How Do I Take An Email Off My Phone

Why I Removed Email From My Smartphone

October one, 2014

I remember when I got my kickoff smartphone nearly five years ago.

I'd put off the purchase for quite a while, and when I finally gave in to the upgrade, I couldn't believe the difference it fabricated in my life. Taking email everywhere was life-changing: I no longer had to look at home well-nigh my laptop when I was expecting or hoping for an important electronic mail. What liberty!

Fast-forwards half a decade, and I merely removed email from my phone.

This wasn't something I'd planned, wasn't office of a strategic shift toward living more mindfully. Instead, it happened in an instant, a spur-of-the-moment conclusion… and yet this small change has had a positive consequence on my life.

If your email never stops... try this.

If your electronic mail never stops… try this.

What prompted removing email from my phone

I was just three days into ten days off work to gloat our wedding. Everything was in place to run without me: our projection manager was on call and monitoring company emails; our systems were in place so team members could do their best work without waiting for my approval; and my autoresponder was on. I wasn't fifty-fifty worried almost taking off 10 days, considering I felt confident my squad could practise virtually everything without me.

Even so my personal email needed checking. I had to correspond with vendors for the big day, brand plans with relatives who were visiting, and keep tabs on the many photos I was tagged in on Facebook. And so even on those "off" days, I was oftentimes in my personal inbox.

Guess what stared me in the face whenever I opened my Gmail app? My work email. Even though I went into Gmail for personal email, I would see my work inbox, too.

And information technology was simply begging to be read. Even though I knew my business organization was covered and running smoothly, I could see how many emails were unread, and I wondered what they were. What opportunities awaited me? What problems needed to be resolved? What wins were my team executing without me?

So I clicked, and I read, and I didn't turn off the piece of work side of my brain like I'd planned to. I knew time off from work was important for my mental wellness, and notwithstanding I wasn't turning off.

For the most role, I just peeked at my work e-mail; I didn't actually respond. But eventually, I couldn't help myself, and I replied.

Within minutes, I received an email dorsum from my projection director telling me to get the heck off my electronic mail and enjoy my wedding week. (Yeah, our projection director is pretty awesome.)

He was correct. Just habits are hard to break unless you forcefulness yourself to make new decisions. So that day, that minute actually, I removed my work email from my phone. Deleted the business relationship from my Gmail app. Said goodbye to respective with clients and my team while on the go.

And you know what? It worked. For the rest of the calendar week, I didn't think about work, and I didn't bear on a single work email. I didn't really take a option, since my laptop was out of reach and we were up to our ears in family and friends. Information technology was impossible to cheque my work email unless I booted up my laptop and took fourth dimension abroad from everyone else, which resulted in true mental fourth dimension abroad.

Did the new habit stick?

Now I'm back to piece of work, merely I haven't put my work email dorsum on my phone. I continue wondering whether I need information technology. Will my concern blow up if I only check email when I'm in front of my laptop? Volition I somewhen find myself in a state of affairs where I'm out of the business firm, away from my laptop, and need access to my work e-mail?

And then far, not having access to work e-mail on my smartphone is improving my quality of life. (I can all the same access my personal email.) It's helping me find a better balance. It's forcing me to continue piece of work at the function (or at least on my laptop) and focus on other parts of my life when I'thousand not at work. Information technology's enabling me to make the conscious pick to spend precious mental energy on e-mail, rather than doing that as my default.

The downside, of class, is not having work email on my telephone makes me less productive in some means. I can't sort through replies when I'one thousand standing in line at the mail service office or watch for of import messages when I step away from my office at luncheon. It means more down time, more than thinking time, the kind of time that has get rare since smartphones came into our lives — just that'southward too how we make space to practice deep work and develop dandy ideas.

It's a game of give and take, of pros and cons. Considering simplifying — and indeed, this is a form of simplifying — requires making small sacrifices, letting little bad things happen so yous can accomplish the big things. (Click to tweet this.)

Here's an example. My married man and I don't ain a television; nosotros haven't had one since we moved in together about two years ago. I beloved how this affects our life. We don't spend our evenings watching reality shows, and instead default to chatting with each other, reading, or browsing the Internet, often side by side on the couch. Our sitting room doesn't revolve around a television receiver, so visitors relax on couches that face each other instead of a screen. It's also always relatively repose in our place, rather than having constant Television racket in the background. All in all, we savour living Telly-free.

Just there are a few instances when nosotros wish nosotros had a TV: to watch sporting events like the Tour de France or the Olympics, to catch up on the evening news, or to throw a Superbowl party. (Superbowl fans don't really desire to watch a alive stream from a laptop.) We accept to give upwards those perks to experience the bigger benefits of living without a tube.

A good friend of mine has a similar situation with their stroller-free life. They love that living stroller-costless forces them to stay fit by carrying their young kid, and means the child has more human interaction — and grows upward with a culture of exercise — than if they were constantly pushed effectually in the stroller. (She conceded this would exist more difficult to pull off if yous accept more than than 1 child.) But to experience all those benefits, she and her married man face a few times each twelvemonth when they wish they had a stroller.

My point is that there volition no incertitude be times when I wish I had my work e-mail on my phone. But I'll accept to piece of work through those tough times to enjoy the benefits of this pick.

How to force yourself into a new habit

Does this sound like it might work for you, but you don't want to commit to information technology?

Maybe there'southward some other habit you lot're keen to develop, but going ALL IN just feels a bit too scary?

Here's my recommendation: Give it a attempt, knowing you are under no obligation to keep it up. In other words, consider information technology an experiment.

I did this two years agone, experimenting with turning off all electronic mail notifications on my phone — and I've continued that since.

This is likewise a good strategy for revising your novel: just experiment with killing your darlings, telling yourself you can put them dorsum into the story if information technology hurts as well much. It minimizes your chance, and y'all'll probably find those cuts make your manuscript stronger.

Sometimes it just takes knowing you're allowed to change your listen to get yourself to try something new.

Next on my list for Not Letting Email Rule My Life: Batching email. The strategy intimidates me, but heck, it'south simply an experiment, correct?

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