How to Conquer Email Overwhelm for More Peace with ADHD

Email can often lead to reduced efficiency and increased stress for many of us. When you live with ADHD, email offers instant gratification and can be a dopamine rush, but it can also be a major source of distraction, avoidance, lack of follow-through, and overwhelm. 

Wayne receives an overwhelming number of daily emails from individuals requesting him to handle multiple tasks in addition to his regular priority workload. For Wayne, each email is a new opportunity that fuels his stimulation-seeking brain.

Each morning, Wayne checks his email to keep up with what he needs to do and what’s new. 
 

To manage the overload, Wayne creates a to do list from the requests people are making from him. In the process, Wayne becomes behind on his priority projects.
 

Wayne's email dictates his to-do list and daily events. To remind himself of what he needs to do, he sends emails to himself. Wayne is overwhelmed and isn't completing his important projects. 
 

Wayne told me he feels like he, “works all the time but isn’t getting anything completed.” 
 

Wayne realizes he must take control of how he manages and responds to his email.

The Interrupt Effect of Email on the ADHD Brain 

Research on the cost of email interruption has shown that most employees respond to emails within 6 seconds every five minutes.  Additional research on the cost of interrupted work has shown that it can take an average of 23 minutes for the average worker to recover from an interruption and return to the original task. 

The study found that even brief interruptions, such as email, can lead to a substantial amount of time lost.

When you read or respond to an email, you must return to the original task, regain your train of thought, and reestablish your workflow. Furthermore, email interruptions were found to lengthen the time to perform a task, creating a more stressful working style. 

This highlights the importance of managing email to maintain productivity and efficiency, particularly for individuals with ADHD who can be more susceptible to distractions. 

Here are four ways to conquer email overwhelm for more peace living with ADHD. 

Proactively Identify Your Priorities 

A 2023 Porch Group Media survey reported that: 99% of email users check their email daily, as much as 20 times per day.  58% of email users check their email before they check the news or social media, with 89.45% of Americans over the age of 15 using email. 

Although the above report did not distinguish between ADHD and the general population, research confirms a positive correlation between ADHD and problematic internet usage, specifically around gaming, emailing, and social networking, especially in individuals who show high levels of impulsivity.

In the scenario mentioned above, Wayne allows his to-do list to be controlled by a flood of emails. He impulsively accepts each request, causing his own priorities to keep dropping lower on his list.

Quick Tips:

• Be proactive around identifying your own priorities. What are your goals in your workplace and professionally? What’s important to you personally? What’s one task or project you’d like to make headway on today? 
• Sift through emails that don't match your priorities. Don’t say yes to request that comes across your inbox before thinking about the consequences of your commitment. 
• Clearly schedule your priorities (rather than prioritizing what’s already on your schedule).  
• Block regular chunks of time to read and respond emails. Perhaps you want to scan your emails after your morning routine but use your prime focus time for your priorities. You decide to respond to emails in the afternoon when you don’t require peak focus. 
• Determine how long is appropriate for you to scan emails. Determine how long you need to respond to emails. Use a timer. 
• Keep emails that align with what’s important to you and eliminate what is not. For example, a sales deal is better off being deleted than saved; (you can do your shopping when you decide, rather than when the email tells you).

Delay the Dopamine Rush

Wayne’s brain seemed consistently preoccupied with what to do next, remembering his responsibilities, worrying about what he might have forgotten, and staying updated and informed about the latest developments. Checking email stimulates his brain, driven by the fear of missing something important and the need to break the monotony of work.

Quick Tips:

• Press pause. Ask yourself, “Is email what I really need/want to be doing right now?”
• Check in with yourself: “Am I using email to distract myself from what I must do? 
• Ask yourself, “Is email the best mode of communication for this context?”
• To reduce overwhelm, limit the emails you initiate. If you send an email, expect to receive another back. 
• Do not send emails to yourself as reminders if you’re already overwhelmed with emails. Instead, keep a small notebook to remind yourself of tasks; or, use the notebook or reminders app on your phone, which syncs to your computer.   
• Keep your emails brief and your responses will also usually be brief. 

Create Space in Your Working Memory

Wayne says he “feels like he works all the time but isn’t getting anything completed.” His working memory is overwhelmed with everything he needs to do, making it tougher to complete his tasks and priorities.

Quick Tips:

• Decide on the emails that justify your replies. You cannot reply to every email. 
• Create digital-free time zones to create space in your brain to focus. 
• Turn off your phone during meetings, family time, and during relaxation time, find offline activities to clear your brain. 
• Give yourself permission to separate from your inbox to focus on tasks.
• Allow yourself to focus on email when you designate email time. 
• Avoid keeping electronic devices in your bedroom, and avoid using your phone as an alarm. Doing so will help you resist the temptation to check emails and apps while in bed.
 

Use Email Functions

Quick Tips:

• Use the email functions “Remind Me Later” or “Send Later,” to select the time and date that works best for you. The delayed send can also provide a buffer period to review and reconsider emails before they are sent, reducing impulsive responses. 
• Implement the Flag function with color coding as reminders: For example, red can mean respond today, and green can mean respond this week. These reminders help ensure important emails are followed up on, preventing tasks from being forgotten.
• Utilize the Focus Time application on your device for work, sleep, family, etc. This can help you focus on emails at designated times rather than constantly checking your inbox.
• Create a special mailbox for Act, Bills, File, or Archive to help you keep track of emails. This can help you stay organized with categories of emails you may or may not want to act on right away. 
• Block time to check email, file, and respond. Setting specific times to check and respond to emails can help create a routine, which is beneficial for time management and productivity.
• Move email to Archive once you’ve acted on the email to get it out of your inbox. Decluttering your inbox can create less overwhelm and more space in your working memory. 
• Turn off notifications and pop-up windows, to reduce interruptions and distractions. 

To sum up, to conquer email overwhelm for more peace with ADHD:

• Proactively Identify Your Priorities
• Delay the Dopamine Rush
• Create Space in Your Working Memory
• Use Email Functions

Warmly,

PS. Need assistance with email overwhelm so you can have more control and more peace?

Contact me for an ADHD Strategy Assessment, and we’ll create a functional game plan now!

Transforming Parents Lives

Warmly,

PS. Need support regulating emotions and easing meltdowns? 

Contact me for an ADHD Strategy Assessment and we’ll set up a plan you can start now!

Transforming Parents Lives