How to Conquer Nonstop Notifications at Work | Christine vs Work

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**Christine** (0:56)
Hey friends, today's topic is super personal. I, oh, sorry about that. Anyway, so this episode is.
So you want, leave me alone.
Notifications at work have gotten so out of control. Like after a while, it is extremely overwhelming. I'm talking email, I'm talking Slack, DMs, whichever way you are pingable. So message overload is nothing new, but it's only gotten worse with the rise of virtual work that relies on this type of communication. So for me, you either respond to everything and feel destroyed at the end of the day, or you reply to some, but feel super guilty about the rest. Shame. So I found some things that have helped me, which I'll share in this video, but I still have questions. How do you avoid getting burned out by work messages? What are things I can do to set boundaries? And ultimately, how do I create a healthier relationship with my inbox? If you're looking for tips on how to manage messages at work without feeling bedraggled every day, we're going to go through some practical techniques you can do to set healthy expectations and boundaries.

**Daniel Sieberg** (2:21)
We get notifications and pings and, you know, something is unread, it starts to drive us crazy.
This notion of FOMO and, you know, just everything that was happening, I think I was maybe experiencing it before many people and felt the need to write about it. And I suppose to serve as a bit of a cautionary tale.

**Christine** (2:42)
That's Daniel Sieberg. He's the Director of Innovation Marketing at Moody's Corporation, co-founder of Good Trust and has deep roots in tech and science journalism.
He's also the author of The Digital Diet, which was published in 2011, but even back then dealt with tech addiction and message overload.

**Daniel Sieberg** (2:59)
At the time, Christine, I think it was driven by a, almost an intervention that was happening around me.
People were concerned about the way that I was, I would say, mismanaging my relationship with technology. And so I started by writing a blog. It's definitely a self-help experience.

**Christine** (3:22)
So you get a message from work. The urge kicks in to respond immediately. Like, the clock is ticking. You don't want to leave them hanging. But how much of that urgency is just in your head?
Daniel recommends flipping the script and mentally recalibrating the sender's expectations.

**Daniel Sieberg** (3:39)
I would message people or email them or ping them somehow. I think to myself, am I expecting that they respond to me right away?
No, generally speaking, my assumption is they're busy, they're doing something, they'll get back to me when they can.

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**SPEAKER_5** (4:39)
Ba-da-ba-ba-ba.

**Daniel Sieberg** (4:41)
Can and I try to take it personally.

**Christine** (4:44)
So flip that logic around back to you. If someone has sent you a message, they're off to the next thing. Get back to them when you reasonably can, but the default doesn't have to be literally ASAP. Give yourself the grace of time.
This might seem obvious, but if you haven't already explored the pause and focus features of your messaging devices and software, now might be the time.