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Now, back to our Q&A series, where I answer popular remote work questions, explain why common advice doesn’t work, and share what I recommend instead. Reply to this email if you have a question you'd like me to cover next!

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The most common recommendation for dealing with notification overload is to define your deep work hours and turn off notifications during this time. However, this ends up limiting the wrong thing (deep work hours). So, instead, I always recommend the reverse of this:

Box in your sync hours so the rest can be defaulted to deep work

What does this look like in practice? For me, I set aside the first 30 minutes and the last 30 minutes every day for sync catch-up. During this time, my team members know they can reach me immediately. I check and respond to messages in various tools like Slack, Notion, and email.

Any message I receive that would take less than 5 minutes to answer gets an instant response. For anything that would take more than 5 minutes, I save it to a separate folder so that I can do the work it requires during my deep work time without having to deal with remembering/finding it later.

However, I will immediately mark it with a 👁️ emoji to let the sender know that I have seen the message and am working on it. If I think it will take longer than a business day, I also add a note about when they can expect to receive a response.

There are many variations in the length and frequency of this approach. Here's another example of what it can look like:

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Noah Reinisch @Reinfish @mar15sa Pipe everything into one slack channel and check it 3 times a day Marissa Goldberg @mar15sa How do you deal with the endless work notifications? 6:54 PM • Oct 15, 2024 0 Retweets 1 Likes Read 1 replies

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Choose a variation that makes sense for your work.

The Boxed Sync approach offers tons of benefits, including:

• Making it clear when team members should expect an instant response from you - Despite media headlines, overwork is a much bigger problem than underwork on remote teams. Remote team members default to thinking they must instantly respond to "prove" they're working. The problem is that this leads to excessive context switching, which kills their productivity and burns them out. Setting clear response expectations upfront keeps you from falling into this common trap.
• Saving you time through batching - Responding to a single message as soon as it comes in is as efficient as washing one piece of clothing at a time. You're spending a much larger cumulative amount of time on notifications than you would if you would batch checking them. You'll also save mental energy when you stop letting notifications constantly interrupt your deep work.
• Keeping you from being in reactive mode all day - Instead of letting notifications direct your day, you can prioritize what actually matters. Less mindless reaction, more intentional activity. Don't be a captive to the tool. The default notification settings are built to keep you using the tool as much as possible. Set up personal boundaries and change the default settings to avoid falling into this black hole. My free Slack Hacks guide is a great place to start.

Don't fall for any "best practice" that involves adding more tools. That's very rarely the answer. Instead, focus on the key foundational elements:

• Filter: Change the default settings to suit your needs
• Streamline: Consolidate as much as possible
• Constrain: Set up the Boxed Sync approach

These steps will help put you back in the driver's seat so you can do your best work.

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TLDR

Don't let work notifications steer your day.

Instead, use the Boxed Sync approach to limit the time you spend checking alerts.

Manage the notifications instead of letting the notifications manage you.

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Quote of the Week

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- Daniel Goleman

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In Other News

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"On top of that, there’s another aspect gnawing at me (and you’ll have to excuse me for getting a little dark). I think there is a driving force here that is psychological, almost existential, and which is not really about remote work per se, but which is manifested in that issue. Namely it’s our fear, as a society, to think about the pandemic."

​Spotify Says Its Employees Aren’t Children — No Return to Office Mandate as ‘Work-From-Anywhere’ Plan Remains​
'“You can’t spend a lot of time hiring grown-ups and then treat them like children,” Spotify’s Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) Katarina Berg says. Berg says she understands the return-to-office mandates for companies who want to “go back to what they know,” but Spotify has yet to encounter a reason to enforce a return-to-office mandate for its many employees.'

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Adam Grant @AdamMGrant Dear managers: Raising productivity is not about monitoring people. It's about motivating them. 94 studies: Surveillance fails to improve performance—and increases stress, distrust, and dissatisfaction. Tracking people is not a substitute for respecting and valuing them. 10:4 AM • Sep 18, 2024 715 Retweets 2775 Likes Read 53 replies

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​Engineering an Autonomous Work Culture​
Recently, I was a guest on the Beyond Margins podcast, where we discussed how to give team members more autonomy and create a calmer company. Listen to this if you’re looking for actionable tips on how to lead an effective team with less meetings.

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Marissa Goldberg @mar15sa Companies think culture is created loudly (ex. social events), but most of the time it’s actually created silently like when leaders don’t bother to check on their team members during major life events (ex. birth, illness, natural disaster, etc) 9:19 AM • Oct 9, 2024 2 Retweets 19 Likes

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What did you think of this issue? What do you hope to see in the next one? Hit reply and let me know. I read every response. I truly appreciate you taking the time to read this. Hope you have a lovely day! Marissa ​Founder, Remote Work Prep​ P.S. Did you enjoy this issue? Share the article with a friend. Struggling with a remote work problem? Book a coaching call. If you liked this, consider supporting this free newsletter by leaving a testimonial. ​

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