1 Thing You Need To Know To Save You From Your Email Inbox

Researchers have found that when people are interrupted during a task by checking email, for instance, they tend to subsequently make up for lost time by working faster. However, this comes at a cost higher levels of stress and frustration. The more we respond to external triggers like email, the more we train our brain in a never ending stimulus response loop. We condition ourselves to respond instantly. Soon it feels impossible to do what we planned because we're constantly reacting to external triggers instead of attending to what's in front of us. Perhaps the answer is to simply ignore the external trigger. Maybe if we don't act on the notification, then we can go about our business and quickly silence the interruption when it happens. Not so fast. A study published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology, Human Perception and Performance found that receiving a cell phone notification, but not replying to it was just as distracting as responding to a message or call.