I don’t have an addictive personality. I can comfortably stop after one drink. I’ve never been in rehab, and I’ve never done a 12-step program.

But email does have the potential to undo me.

If I’m not careful I can alt-tab back to my email browser hundreds of times a day, completely derailing any proper work I’m trying to do.

So informed by Cal Newport’s Deep Work and Dermot Crowley’s Smart Work, here’s how I do email:

Not before 10am. On an ideal day I’ve knocked over my three big tasks for the day by 10am, and then checking my email is the reward. (If I’m delivering a program I’m allowed to break this rule).
Not on my phone. I’ve hidden the app on my phone and it’s not part of my daily workflow. I function better and am more present without the temptation of email on my phone.
Ideally I check a maximum of 3 times a day. Doesn’t always work, but that’s what I shoot for.
I’ll generally reply to yesterday’s emails. If we’re going to get into an email tennis match, I want to slow it down a little, and just play one shot a day. This means I’ll often read an email twice, which isn’t what the productivity gurus recommend, but it works for me.
And (weekends, holidays and big delivery days aside) I’ll never have anything older than yesterday in my inbox. So I clear my inbox daily but not to inbox zero, down to the emails that have arrived today that I’ll reply to tomorrow.

Hope that helps.