Maximize productivity by scheduling time to respond to messages
5 min
Beginner
By the end of this lesson, you'll be able to:
- Set time to respond to messages for fewer interruptions during focus time
Block time to respond to your messages
Why should you schedule time to respond to messages?
It’s all too easy to get distracted by notifications. Every time you check notifications, it takes 20 minutes to get back into a flow state. You can remove the notification temptation by blocking off dedicated time for the task, also called respond to messages. This scheduled time allows you to:
- Reply to emails
- Catch up on Slack threads
- Keep tabs on tags, mentions, or comments
You might also do quick actions during this time, such as:
- Scheduling follow-up meetings
- Updating to-do lists
Respond to messages doesn’t need to include the time you spend creating thoughtful written content, such as prospecting emails or creating a page to drive key decisions. That’s deep work you should complete during focus time.
How to schedule time to respond to messages?
Block daily times to check notifications, comments, emails, tickets, and meeting action items. Pick times when your brain is up for this type of work. This could be just after lunch or a block of meetings.
👉 For example: Sasha’s team communicates through Slack, Jira, and Confluence. She wants to block off 1 hour a day to respond to her messages, comments, and tags. Sasha decides to block 30 minutes at the start of each day to respond to any new messages that came in from the night before. She also blocks off another 30 minutes right after lunch to check any other messages that have come in throughout the day.
👇 Here’s an example of what this might look like in your calendar.
What if you need to check notifications during focus time?
It’s important to give yourself time for deep thinking. But for some people, making yourself unavailable for blocks of time can feel like you’re letting people down if they need you.
Here are a few things you can try to make this easier:
- Add detail in your Slack status, like ‘Heads down on X project. Back at 11am PST.’
- Update your Slack notification preferences(opens in a new tab) so you’re interrupted by fewer people and channels.
- Schedule ‘Respond to messages’ blocks directly after your ‘focus time’ blocks.
- Tell a teammate how they can reach you if it’s truly urgent.
Ultimately, you know what’s best for you and your role. If you need to check a message, do it.
👉 For example: Andy is a manager of a Marketing team. He scheduled time to respond to messages twice a day. However, he still gets messages from his team throughout the day, which makes it difficult to make time for deep focus. Andy decides to update his Slack status during his focus time. He also lets his team know that he’ll respond to messages after his scheduled focus time, but if it’s truly urgent, they can message him directly.
Limit the time you respond to messages to 20% of the week, or less than 8 hours a week.
Try it yourself
Schedule time to respond to messages.
First, block time in your calendar.
- Determine when your brain will feel most ready to respond to messages.
- Determine how much time you need to spend doing this task.
- Schedule time on your calendar to respond to messages. If possible, make it a recurring event.
Then, remove the notification temptation from your focus time.
- Decide how you want to notify your teammates that you’re in focus mode. Maybe it’s as simple as updating your Slack status or hanging a sign at your desk.
- Pause your notifications while you’re in focus mode.
- Wait until your scheduled time to respond to messages.
Here’s a tip: Try this out for a week, then assess your progress. Make adjustments to your calendar or Slack preferences, if needed.
What does your ideal calendar look like?
Your calendar should include time for focus and open collaboration.
Don’t cram your days with all the things. Take control and curate your time so you focus on work and collaboration that’ll help you deliver.
Use Google Time Insights to help you plan.
Set labels and color-code events using Google Time Insights. It can also show you how much time you spend on each type of work.
To create new label categories in Google Calendar:
- Select Time insights on the left-side navigation bar.
- Select the More insights button.
- In Time insights, select the pencil icon to edit color labels.
- Create color labels for your time blocks:
- Focus time
- Open collaboration
- Not available
- Respond to messages
- Select Save.
How was this lesson?
next lesson
How to continue making time for the work that matters most
- Communicate to your team.
- Implement change to your daily life.
- Let’s look at a case study.