When I was a kid, I loved running to the door every time I heard the postman arrive. I’d just stand there waiting to get the envelopes before they put them in the mailbox. He didn’t want to waste a minute.

I couldn’t wait to see if there was something exciting or unexpected for me. Most days, it is true, there were none. But every now and then a birthday invitation or a letter from my grandmother surprised me and made my day.

Monday through Saturday, once a day, I reveled in the potential that delivery could bring.

These days, I hardly notice when mail goes through my door slot. If it weren’t for my dog’s barking, I wouldn’t even know it’s arrived.

That rush and the thrill of the unknown are now experienced countless times each day. All I have to do is look at my inbox. Whether on my computer, my tablet or my phone, anywhere, anytime, “You have mail” can light up the pleasure zone in my brain.

However, that trigger leads to an addictive habit check email regularly throughout the day. As an entrepreneur, this habit is not productive and is a stress-inducing pattern that I have had to learn to control.

In fact, research shows that the pleasure zone in the brain that lights up every time a gamer, alcoholic, or shopaholic searches for their fix is ​​the same in our brain when we check our emails. And, the more we do it, the more we have to do it, to receive that same pleasant sensation.

Many business professionals might argue with me when I say that constantly checking emails is a problem. They will tell me that it is convenient to always have access to emails wherever and whenever you want. And how wonderful it is to be able to instantly respond to customers or catch up on the latest industry news.

I can only tell you what the research is finding and what I saw happen to me and many of my clients when email became an addictive habit.

When the first thing we do every day is to read our emails, even before getting out of bed, without realizing it, we deliver our day’s agenda. Most emails ask us for something: a response to an inquiry, a purchase decision, or to read important news that we think is urgent for us to know.

Instead of taking care of what is most important to us and our business, we find ourselves in the rabbit hole; we are responding to, reading or looking at information that is relevant to someone else.

Although surveys and studies indicate that the average adult checks their emails about 15 times a day, for many, it could be much more. Relevancy Group is a market research company that measures consumer and executive behaviors. They found that 66% of online consumers check their email account multiple times a day, and 13% of online consumers check their email hourly or more frequently. We dive into the inbox all day, every day; No wonder we feel drowned in email.

With all these emails staring at us, our brain receives the subtle message that we have so much to do. Others await an answer from us. It’s stressful! And it takes a long time!

Respond immediately to the email and you will see that you have diverted your attention from whatever else you were working on or intended to work on. Don’t respond and the pile will get bigger and bigger, leaving us feeling out of control.

Our to-do list gets longer every time we try to attend to those unread emails. Or the ones that have been in our inbox for weeks. FOMO (fear of missing out) increases, so we do not eliminate. We tell ourselves that we will get to that when we have time.

Sometimes we check email in the hope that it will direct us toward what to do with our day, rather than proactively deciding what is the most important task we should be working on.

Or worse yet, we use email to procrastinate. When there is something we do not want to do, it is surprising what our brain comes up with to avoid doing what needs to be done. Email is a great excuse! We say to ourselves: “First I’ll clean the inbox and then I’ll get to work.” Before you know it, hours have passed and now the message is: “There is not enough time today. I will take care of this tomorrow.”

When we read the same email that we have seen multiple times before, we are putting off making a decision. We are not sure how we want to respond, or if this is necessary information that we will need in the future, or if this item is something we might want to buy. Procrastination adds to our feelings of anxiety and stress.

Research shows that the more we give in to this addictive habit of email, the more our stress levels rise. A study from the University of British Columbia showed the opposite: Less frequent email checks made people much happier throughout the day.

So if we could break the habit of constantly checking our emails throughout the day, we would reduce our stress, be more productive, and be happier! It seems to me that it is worth a try.

Rather than replying to emails one by one as they arrive, set aside certain times of the day (perhaps morning, afternoon, and evening) to attend to messages. Doing so will help you feel more in control of the flow, and you won’t have to switch between different tasks throughout the day.

Ready to reduce your dependence on email, reduce your stress, stop procrastinating, and feel more in control of your life? If so, you need to learn some very specific strategies to deal with this problem effectively.

1. Decide on an email schedule that makes sense for your business and your lifestyle. Unless you’re in customer service or another business where responding to emails instantly is your job, almost everyone can cut down on the frequency of inbox diving.
2. Close your email program and all email notifications, and keep it open only during the allotted times.
3. Resist opening your email first thing in the morning. Exercise, eat a healthy breakfast, plan the day ahead, and work on the most important project for that day for at least an hour.
4. Develop a system for managing emails and keeping your inbox relatively free. Train yourself to handle each email only once. Take care of it, delete it, delegate it or archive it.
5. Unsubscribe from all emails that you never read or that you know are wasting your time. If unsubscribing makes you uncomfortable, remember that you can always re-subscribe if you lose it in the future.
6. Create a “read later” folder for the newsletters that you like and that add value to your life. Get those emails out of your inbox immediately and know when you’ll get to them. Clean that folder at the end of each week. Take the time to read or delete those that you haven’t reached.

It took me a while to stop constantly checking my emails and find a system that worked for me. Truth be told, I quit sometimes.

But when I do, I quickly realize that I am putting off the important things and my stress level increases along with the number of emails in my inbox. So, I go back to basics and follow my system.

Now, I recognize that just asking you to check your email three or four times a day initially might cause you more stress. But, once you break this addictive habit and experience how much more relaxed and fulfilled life feels, you will be so glad you did!