Deep Dive Series: The Power of No Through Automatic Responses
By Tana M. Mann Easton, Lead Efficiency Engineer
For many of us, the only time we use our out of office assistant or automatic responses on our email is when we are out of the office on vacation or medical leave and don’t have access to our computers. But these are not the only circumstances when automatic responses are useful. Some people use automatic responses to gatekeep and say no for them during times when they need a large amount of focus time.
When Greg McKeown was writing his book Essentialism, he created an automatic response on his computer for all emails with the subject line “In Monk Mode.” The text of the email read: “Dear Friends, I am currently working on a new book which has put enormous burdens on my time. Unfortunately, I am unable to respond in the manner I would like. For this, I apologize.—Greg.” And he said he didn’t have negative ramifications to this communication. People adapted to his absence.
I’ve heard of professors doing something similar. They set automatic responses that explain they don’t check their email often and list their office hours when they can be reached instead.
If you are in a season of life when you need large time periods for focus and must say no to pretty much everything else for a time, then an automatic response on your email may be the time saving device of your dreams.
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Sincerely Yours,
Focus to Evolve Team