Why I Stopped Checking Email On My Phone

It’s been over a year now that I stopped checking email on my phone and people are always so surprised to hear this. I have four email accounts: 1 for Glitter Guide, 1 for The Mama Notes, 1 for Kruse & Vieira Events and my personal one so managing them can be overwhelming. It’s the reason I had to stop checking my email on my phone and I’ve become so much happier and present in my daily life since! Here’s why I did it:

1. It became a problem, and caused me to be less present with my daughter and husband. I was constantly glued to my phone and I hated that. I’m not saying I’m not on my phone now (hello camera + Instagram + text messages) but it’s helped a lot. It’s allowed me to live LIFE and work during work hours. I used to wake up and immediately check my email on my phone!!! What a horrible way to start the day.
2. It caused unnecessary stress at all times of the day. Do I really need to be reading about a client “emergency” while I’m standing in line at the grocery store? Catching up on missed emails right before I fall asleep? No. I found myself looking at my email at ALL times of the day and feeling an overwhelming sense of stress. What happened to just driving and listening to music instead of skimming through my inbox at a dang red light? Unnecessary! There is a time and place for work, and checking my email on my phone made me feel like I was constantly working, I work enough as it is.
3. It made me more unorganized. I’d often read emails on my phone and then forget about them by the time I got back to my computer and never respond (this happened so frequently). At the start of 2017 I implemented Inbox Zero and I sort all of my emails to show all of the unread ones at the top of my inbox, when I read messages on my phone this system doesn’t work and causes more frustration and loss of time trying to catch up.

I’m much happier now that I’ve fully committed to this change. I still have the Gmail app installed and will check if I’m out of town or skip out on work when I should be at my computer to run an errand or something — but typically I really try my best to not open it. It makes me happy when I do open it and see that the mail hasn’t been downloaded for a week!

Here are a few tips if you want to get out of the habit.

-Uninstall your mail apps for from your phone, it makes it impossible!

-Set certain times during the day when you’ll check your email by phone.

-Stop and think before you pull out your phone and hit that mail button.

-Ask your family for support!

Image by Anna Reynal