{"id":17183,"date":"2018-11-02T11:00:02","date_gmt":"2018-11-02T18:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/?p=17183"},"modified":"2018-11-02T10:53:48","modified_gmt":"2018-11-02T17:53:48","slug":"when-did-email-become-my-job","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2018\/11\/when-did-email-become-my-job\/","title":{"rendered":"When did email become my job?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-17184 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/rawpixel-651365-unsplash.jpg\" alt=\"GTD email\" width=\"459\" height=\"306\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/rawpixel-651365-unsplash.jpg 459w, https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/rawpixel-651365-unsplash-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 459px) 100vw, 459px\" \/>Question:<\/strong> At what point did answering e-mail become my job?<\/p>\n<p><strong>David Allen:<\/strong> Well, at what point did answering anything\u2014your mail, having conversations in your hallway\u2014become your job? It&#8217;s all your job. You just have to decide what your work is. As the late, great Peter Drucker said, that&#8217;s your biggest job, to define what your work is.<\/p>\n<p>So how do you define what your work is, and therefore should you be doing that? The good news about this overwhelm is that it&#8217;s forcing people to make executive decisions that they never felt like they had to make before. &#8220;I need to do everything that comes my way.&#8221; No, you can&#8217;t anymore, sorry. You are going to have to do triage. That means you are going to have to have a conversation with your boss. You are going to have to show up with a list of everything he or she has given you and have a conversation. &#8220;Gee, thanks for these new things, can we talk? Because I am not going to be able to do them all.&#8221; It&#8217;s forcing those kinds of conversations.<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s why people have this attraction\/repulsion to GTD. It ain&#8217;t lightweight stuff. If you are really going to work this, that&#8217;s what&#8217;s going to start to show up.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Question: At what point did answering e-mail become my job? David Allen: Well, at what point did answering anything\u2014your mail, having conversations in your hallway\u2014become your job? It&#8217;s all your job. You just have to decide what your work is. As the late, great Peter Drucker said, that&#8217;s your biggest job, to define what your &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2018\/11\/when-did-email-become-my-job\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;When did email become my job?&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17184,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,736,1,716,32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-david-allen","category-educational-tools","category-featured","category-free-resources","category-productivity-tips","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.8 (Yoast SEO v26.8) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>When did email become my job? - Getting Things Done\u00ae<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When did email become my job? David Allen gives helpful advice if you&#039;re feeling overwhelmed by handling email throughout your day.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2018\/11\/when-did-email-become-my-job\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"When did email become my job?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When did email become my job? David Allen gives helpful advice if you&#039;re feeling overwhelmed by handling email throughout your day.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2018\/11\/when-did-email-become-my-job\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Getting Things Done\u00ae\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gettingthingsdone\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-11-02T18:00:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/rawpixel-651365-unsplash.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"459\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"306\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"GTD Times Staff\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@gtdtimes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@gtdtimes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"GTD Times Staff\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2018\/11\/when-did-email-become-my-job\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2018\/11\/when-did-email-become-my-job\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"GTD Times Staff\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#\/schema\/person\/52d8dfa5db8d4e8792586794625c12a4\"},\"headline\":\"When did email become my job?\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-11-02T18:00:02+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2018\/11\/when-did-email-become-my-job\/\"},\"wordCount\":231,\"commentCount\":1,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2018\/11\/when-did-email-become-my-job\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/rawpixel-651365-unsplash.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"David Allen\",\"Educational Tools\",\"Featured\",\"Free Resources\",\"Productivity Tips\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2018\/11\/when-did-email-become-my-job\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2018\/11\/when-did-email-become-my-job\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2018\/11\/when-did-email-become-my-job\/\",\"name\":\"When did email become my job? - Getting Things Done\u00ae\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2018\/11\/when-did-email-become-my-job\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2018\/11\/when-did-email-become-my-job\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/rawpixel-651365-unsplash.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-11-02T18:00:02+00:00\",\"description\":\"When did email become my job? David Allen gives helpful advice if you're feeling overwhelmed by handling email throughout your day.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2018\/11\/when-did-email-become-my-job\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2018\/11\/when-did-email-become-my-job\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2018\/11\/when-did-email-become-my-job\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/rawpixel-651365-unsplash.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/rawpixel-651365-unsplash.jpg\",\"width\":459,\"height\":306},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2018\/11\/when-did-email-become-my-job\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"When did email become my job?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/\",\"name\":\"Getting Things Done\u00ae\",\"description\":\"David Allen&#039;s GTD\u00ae Methodology\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Getting Things Done\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/gtd-logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/gtd-logo.png\",\"width\":370,\"height\":338,\"caption\":\"Getting Things Done\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gettingthingsdone\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/gtdtimes\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/gtdtimes\/\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/groups\/2328651\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#\/schema\/person\/52d8dfa5db8d4e8792586794625c12a4\",\"name\":\"GTD Times Staff\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4df22f74cebc078fff6e9f4d8e6e74a980295dec0849d6ab2d6b303ee0c92030?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4df22f74cebc078fff6e9f4d8e6e74a980295dec0849d6ab2d6b303ee0c92030?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"GTD Times Staff\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/author\/webadmin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"When did email become my job? - Getting Things Done\u00ae","description":"When did email become my job? David Allen gives helpful advice if you're feeling overwhelmed by handling email throughout your day.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2018\/11\/when-did-email-become-my-job\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"When did email become my job?","og_description":"When did email become my job? David Allen gives helpful advice if you're feeling overwhelmed by handling email throughout your day.","og_url":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2018\/11\/when-did-email-become-my-job\/","og_site_name":"Getting Things Done\u00ae","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gettingthingsdone\/","article_published_time":"2018-11-02T18:00:02+00:00","og_image":[{"width":459,"height":306,"url":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/rawpixel-651365-unsplash.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"GTD Times Staff","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@gtdtimes","twitter_site":"@gtdtimes","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"GTD Times Staff","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2018\/11\/when-did-email-become-my-job\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2018\/11\/when-did-email-become-my-job\/"},"author":{"name":"GTD Times Staff","@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#\/schema\/person\/52d8dfa5db8d4e8792586794625c12a4"},"headline":"When did email become my job?","datePublished":"2018-11-02T18:00:02+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2018\/11\/when-did-email-become-my-job\/"},"wordCount":231,"commentCount":1,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2018\/11\/when-did-email-become-my-job\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/rawpixel-651365-unsplash.jpg","articleSection":["David Allen","Educational Tools","Featured","Free Resources","Productivity Tips"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2018\/11\/when-did-email-become-my-job\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2018\/11\/when-did-email-become-my-job\/","url":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2018\/11\/when-did-email-become-my-job\/","name":"When did email become my job? - Getting Things Done\u00ae","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2018\/11\/when-did-email-become-my-job\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2018\/11\/when-did-email-become-my-job\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/rawpixel-651365-unsplash.jpg","datePublished":"2018-11-02T18:00:02+00:00","description":"When did email become my job? David Allen gives helpful advice if you're feeling overwhelmed by handling email throughout your day.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2018\/11\/when-did-email-become-my-job\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2018\/11\/when-did-email-become-my-job\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2018\/11\/when-did-email-become-my-job\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/rawpixel-651365-unsplash.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/rawpixel-651365-unsplash.jpg","width":459,"height":306},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2018\/11\/when-did-email-become-my-job\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"When did email become my job?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/","name":"Getting Things Done\u00ae","description":"David Allen&#039;s GTD\u00ae Methodology","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#organization","name":"Getting Things Done","url":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/gtd-logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/gtd-logo.png","width":370,"height":338,"caption":"Getting Things Done"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gettingthingsdone\/","https:\/\/x.com\/gtdtimes","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/gtdtimes\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/groups\/2328651\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#\/schema\/person\/52d8dfa5db8d4e8792586794625c12a4","name":"GTD Times Staff","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4df22f74cebc078fff6e9f4d8e6e74a980295dec0849d6ab2d6b303ee0c92030?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4df22f74cebc078fff6e9f4d8e6e74a980295dec0849d6ab2d6b303ee0c92030?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"GTD Times Staff"},"url":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/author\/webadmin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17183"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17183\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}