Kerry,
I can agree with how it is to easily get caught up in other things and be distracted with important but not urgent.


My thought perception is, take care of what is urgent to you and then follow a time schedule of what may be important, then set times for urgent task to be delivered complete


Wishing you great success on your journey!

I have this when I go through my email I put everything into folders like for instances.

I put my Great news into folders right away then I put my follows in the folders and then I answer the rest of the email according. I hope this helps you out.

Mary

For me what I do since am new here I engage well with the emails but before I joined WA I had made up my mind to declutter daily activities and that specifically was to do with emails and facebook notifications. I used to get everything on my phone and it was driving me crazy so it was my birthday and my husband bought me a phone. What I did was not have facebook and emails come to my new phone I use my old phone and computer for emails and facebook and I keep the old phone and computer away sometimes. So even if I didn't have the new phone I had purposed to leave facebook and emails for the computer that way I schedule time for them. I don't know if this is an option for you or anyone else but it works for me.

Hi Kerry! I think many others gave good tips on how to adjust your notifications, but I wanted to share some advice for prioritizing in business in general. If you want to be full time in business, WA won't be the only distraction. For me, I've had crying babies, kids and homework, friends stopping by, and so many other things that come up. What
I do is segment my day into 3 parts: acquiring work, doing work, and managing work. If a distraction comes up when
I'm supposed to be acquiring work, I have to be disciplined to quickly remove the distraction without too much sentiment. For me, this has meant sending my kids off to daycare and school, telling my friends not to call during certain times, turning notifications off, and only addressing tempting activities during my "down time" when i'm not supposed to be doing money-making tasks. Hopefully this helps.

Aah Kerry, I can relate. I've been there.
And I see Ian has given you fabulous advice already. Reducing the number of email notifications you receive definitely reduces overwhelm at the beginning.
While it's important to be an active part of this community in order to thrive here, I love your idea of setting a daily time limit on your social activity.
Kyle reminds us frequently in the his training that building our websites is paramount and that's where most of our focus should be.
Wishing you all the best as you build your online empire.

Hi Kerry

It is overwhelming when you first join. You need to find a system that works for you. Here's what I do:

1. Click on your name in the top left of the screen. Click on Account Settings. Scroll right down to the bottom to Notifications, click on Edit. There you can decide which notifications you receive.

Personally, I've only switched the Likes off. The main emails I get are new blog posts and training and I want to know about all the other stuff when it happens.

2. I scan through the list of WA emails and just look at the titles, you don't have to open them. If a post doesn't seem relevant to me at my current level of progress, I delete it. This removes most of them but you can always go back later and search for topics in WA.

3. If anything looks relevant I read it and reply as appropriate.

4. If someone replies to a Profile comment or any other comment for that matter, I always Like it. In most cases that's all that's required but if it's a long reply or asks a Q, I reply.

5. If someone Follows me I always follow them back and post a Thank You on their Profile page. I read their profile and try to incorporate a relevant comment in my Thank You but often it's difficult to think of something relevant to say so don't worry about it :-) Just thank them or simply return the Follow!

5a. To avoid doing this Follow someone else first :-) I'll Follow someone who's posted a good reply to a comment or who's written a useful blog post or training. Note that you only get notified of posts from people who you are Following so in a sense that will increase the number of emails you get but, hopefully, they will be relevant.

If I Follow an existing member, I just click the Follow button and don't leave a message. If they post a Thank You on my Profile page, a Like is usually all that's required in return.

5b. I also try to Follow newcomers to give them a bit support. Again, I read their Profile and try to include something relevant in the few words of welcome I post. Yes, this takes a little while but it's not something you should feel obliged to do if time is short, although it does help improve your Rank. However, I wouldn't worry about Rank too much until you get into the system and community and you're happy with the work you're doing on your website .

6. If I spot a post or training that looks interesting I'll often Bookmark it rather than read it there and then.

Gosh! That's longer than I expected! :-) But it doesn't take as long to do as the above might make it seem.

As the other commenters have said, you're first priority is to your website.
Ian

Hi, Kerry!

I was dealing with the same struggle at first. I ended up turning off email notifications for replies to my blogs. I still get notifications on the WA site though.

Hope that helps. :)

Amy

Hi Kerry,
This a challenge that almost all of us face, I think. If we do not prioritize our websites and potential money making activities, there will be no money coming in.

I am experimenting with "allowing" myself to spend 30 minutes at time on WA, 2 - 3 times a day. I do see value in being involved with WA in so many ways.

If you figure out the magic formula of proper balance- be sure to share.

I hope that you have a great week.

Sometimes you just need to put blinders on and focus on your primary mission......if the emails help in that regard great be thankful and then back to work. Yes emails can become a millstone around your neck if you let them.....
Remember, primary mission, screen out distractions then if you have any extra time you can comment, assist and email, but not before 1st order stuff is done... not easy but necessary.
I now need to take my own advice and scram.......