Inbox Detox: How I Kicked the Email Habit and Got My Time Back

I have a confession to make. I once was an addict, an email addict.

Checking my phone for emails before I even got out of bed. And scanning my inbox obsessively throughout the day and evening.

I liked to think I was in control – picking things up quickly, always available and knowing exactly what was going on in my businesses. Yet the sad fact was that everything was spiralling out of control. I was exhausted. I never had any down time and couldn’t see the wood for the trees.

Something had to change but what? I didn’t want to risk losing any business by missing important emails and I prided myself on being there for my team.

How could I make things better but still feel involved? I really didn’t know so I sought some expert help from my business coach.

When she suggested a 14 day inbox detox, I was intrigued and happy to give it a go, but nervous too. What if it didn’t work and I missed things? What if people thought I was ignoring them? I really didn’t want to ruin my businesses after all the hard work I’d put in.

I decided to keep a diary of my detox – partly to hold myself accountable but if I’m honest, partly to record how far I’d come if I had a wobble.

Here’s a brief summary of how my inbox detox went:

Day 1 – Full of enthusiasm and determination to succeed with my challenge – I’ve got this!

I call my own VA Laura, and ask her to take over my inbox. I can hear her eyes rolling in her head – it’s different this time I explained, this time it’s cold turkey.

We agreed to have a brief catch up daily to go through anything she wasn’t sure how to deal with. Laura sounded excited to learn more about the business and be empowered with management of my inbox. It made me sad that I’ve clearly not allowed her do this before, despite her being more than capable.

In the afternoon, I started typing an email to Laura to check on progress with a task. Then caught myself. Stop it!! Gave myself a hand slap, deleted the email and logged out again.

Day 2 – Another slight hiccup when I logged into my email as I needed to access a 100 page email attachment from a team member.

Whilst in there, I noticed a confused reply from one of my team, questioning a response (from Laura posing as me) to something we’d already discussed that day. In short, I think they thought I’d lost the plot! “Do you not remember us discussing it this morning?” the team member said kindly in her email reply.

Hmm, a new one on me. Laura could never have known this (and if I’m honest, I didn’t want the added pressure of having to report back to her on every text, WhatsApp and phone call I have with the team. So, how to handle this situation?  Laura can’t be in my head (and believe me she wouldn’t want to be either!).

We came up with a new plan – to ask team members to text or call if something was genuinely urgent, otherwise things should be updated on Todoist, our task management software to avoid emails as much as possible, and I’d schedule a regular call with each team member to deal with that week’s outstanding queries. I also added in a nightly call with Laura to resolve any email queries from that day that she couldn’t resolve. Simple changes but all great time savers.

Day 3 – Getting easier. Again, needed to go into the inbox to access an older attachment from before my detox but this time, I didn’t look at anything else! Also realised that a better way to access attachments moving forward would be via Google Drive or Dropbox so no need to go into the inbox at all. All these little tweaks are really making a difference and I didn’t go near the inbox again all day.

Day 4 – I don’t mind admitting I didn’t practice what I preached on day 4 of my detox – I had to look for a document again, noticed a few emails and although I didn’t answer them, I worried all day about whether a potential new client had heard back from us. When another team member mentioned it and Laura hadn’t brought it up in our evening meeting, I’m afraid I logged in and checked.

What I found reassured me completely – Laura had dealt with it exactly as I would have and I wondered why I’d ever doubted this. It’s not easy to admit you’re a control freak but I could see that I had been for years. I realised I needed to step back, trust Laura and work harder on letting her get on with it. It’s not an easy transition if you’re used to doing so much yourself but it really emphasises how important it is to get the right VA – someone you can trust, with the right skills and experience to treat it as they would their own business. Thankfully, I know any one of my team would fit the brief.

Day 5 – An easier day as Friday is my day off so I usually avoid the inbox as much as possible anyway. An interesting revelation though that I’d set everyone else’s expectations way too high when it came to communication. A web designer doing some work for one of my clients called me to see if I’d received his email. Why?  Well usually I’d reply straight away and he hadn’t heard anything so he was worried it hadn’t arrived.

We actually dealt with his query in less than a minute and I explained I was going through an inbox detox so it was best to contact me via text or phone if it was urgent. Think about how many people you deal with have the same expectation and how much pressure this puts on you to be available 24/7 – I’d genuinely never realised just how draining it was until I didn’t do it anymore.

Day 6 – Reclaiming my weekends at last – I was meeting up with a friend for coffee and then an old friend was coming and staying overnight so for once I didn’t even think about emails. It’s so beneficial to actually get some work-life boundaries back in place and stick to them.

Day 7 – Again a lovely day but Sunday evening is a time I usually log in and see what’s come in over the weekend and get a head start on the week. It was really hard to break this old habit but I distracted myself with the final episode of a gripping tv series I’d been meaning to watch.

Day 8 – A big test today as had an issue with a delivery for my daughter’s birthday the next day and all communication was by email. I was in and out the inbox all day and it was hard not to look but proud that I managed to stay focussed and on task. The week before I know I wouldn’t have managed it so feeling like I’ve made great progress in the last week and find that I’m actually starting to feel more relaxed about it.

Day 9 – My weekly call with my business partner who was concerned I’d not been answering any of his emails – whoops, had forgotten to brief Laura that these were filtered into another folder so they’d gone unchecked! As most of his emails are just attachments to read, Laura will now save these to Todoist so I don’t need to go into the inbox to pick them up. Really pleased about how easy this is getting now. Only a few teething troubles but nothing that can’t be solved and I’m really noticing how much more time I have to work on the business.

Day 10 – A packed day with important meetings and only a few emails to discuss at my evening call with Laura. I can’t believe how long this used to take me and how much better it is knowing you only need to look at the key ones and can leave everything else to be taken care of. More determined than ever not to take a step backwards and go back to how I was!

Day 11 – Off work today for a day at the races – usually I’m keeping an eye on the inbox but it didn’t even cross my mind once. I like this new me!

Day 12 – Another successful day, starting with a text to confirm a 12.30pm call with my solicitor – all the emails to and fro to arrange this had been handled by Laura, and the documents I needed for the call from the email were in my ‘Sarah to review’ folder in Google Drive.

Day 13 – Can’t believe how much progress I’ve made in the last 13 days. As well as giving up my control freak habits, I’ve also weeded out junk emails by having a ruthless cull of my email subscriptions, stopped using my emails as an extended To Do list and started making the most of Todoist.

Day 14 – I made it! I can safely say that, thanks to my inbox detox, I am now enjoying far more time developing new business ideas and spending time with my family.

So, what did I learn?

An obvious point perhaps but I’ve found that it really does take practice and commitment to overcome an email addiction. It’s so easy to just fall back into checking your inbox obsessively and you really must be tough on yourself if you want to make this change a permanent one.

I was really surprised how many of the people I spoke to over the 14 days thought it might not be possible to take control of their emails – this just shows what slaves we become to our inbox, especially when we run a small business.

Of course, technology doesn’t always help here – with phones and iPads, we can check on the go in places we’d never have been able to 20 years ago when I was starting out. It often feels like there’s no escape. Yet I’m proof that it is possible to overcome this.

My inbox detox takeaway? You don’t have to do it all.

Breaking the habit of constantly checking emails hasn’t just given me more time, it’s given me clarity, calm and confidence in my team. The biggest shift wasn’t in my inbox, but in my mindset. I finally allowed myself to step back and trust others to support me.

You don’t have to be constantly glued to your inbox, or feel guilty for switching off. You can build a system that works for you, with the right people behind you to keep things moving.

Inbox detox might sound like a small change, but for me, it’s been a reset. A chance to stop reacting to everything and to start choosing how I spend my time.

So if you’re tempted to try it too, do it. Start small, set boundaries, and get the right support in place. Because your time is too precious to be lost to an endless stream of emails.

And if you’re ready to delegate but not sure where to begin? That’s exactly what we’re here for.