Congrats, you are reading this because you are constantly blasted with incoming email, text messages, tweets, Facebook posts, phone calls, instant messages, etc. Most of us spend the majority of our day and energy simply reacting to overwhelming amounts of incoming items.

To avoid this massive energy sink, we suggest having two or three hours per day of “non-stimulation” in your day. If you are a busy individual simply try starting off with one hour and test your results.

To avoid this reactionary workflow, some of the most productive people I have met schedule what can be called “windows of non-stimulation” in their day. For two to three hours per day, these people avoid email and all other incoming communication. In this time, they focus on their list of big items: not routine tasks, but long-term projects that require research and deep thought.

Another idea is to aggregate all messages in a central location. Setting your social networks to email you, and using filters to automatically manage these emails, will reduce your “hopping time” (when you hop between sources of communication) and focus your attention. Some people even have their voice mails transcribed automatically and forwarded by email. In a world of many inboxes, you have to consolidate.