6 Ways to Find More Time for Yourself

5. Turn Off Your E-Mail Alert

And check it as infrequently as your job permits, hopefully once or twice a day. Stack stays that e-mail wastes time because it interrupts the flow of your work. "You're constantly ramping up and then going back and rethinking what you're doing. It's a lot more effort than if you just took 20 minutes and focused on that one thing," she says. By turning off the bell -- or quack or frog croak -- that says "You've got mail!" you'll work more efficiently and can then respond to e-mails when you're ready.