If you use systems such as Slack or Basecamp, it’s likely you suffer from “notification fatigue” or “alert anxiety.”
That little red circle continually pops up, beckoning you to respond to some urgent need.
The problem is, rarely is anything actually urgent.
There are lots of things that are important, but a true emergency is rare.
When people are able and willing to communicate with each other at any time about anything, it can easily simply serve to distract us from our best work and hurt our productivity.
To solve this, we must:
- Create communications systems that allow space and give each other breathing room.
- Discipline ourselves to recognize the difference between urgent and important, and choose the appropriate communication method accordingly.
It’s only when we take the proper steps that we allow ourselves the space to do the deep work needed to make our companies prosper.