Breaking the Instant Reply Email Myth

Most emails at work are too long, too late, or too emotional. Especially in mid and senior roles, email is not just communication—it’s reputation on record. Here are 5 email tips I use that might just save you from your next oops moment: 1. Never Reply in Anger An angry reply is never the power move you think it is. You won’t win a war of words over email—just escalate it. Breathe. Walk. Call. Or better, talk in person. 2. Write for Mobile, Not for Glory Over 80% of emails are read on phones. Yet we keep formatting like we’re publishing a brochure. Keep it clean, simple, and scroll-friendly. 3. Inbox Zero Is a Mirage Chasing a zero inbox is like chasing nirvana with a to-do list. Let some emails marinate. Not every message needs an instant reply. You're paid to prioritize, not to ping-pong. 4. Some Problems Solve Themselves Every now and then, inaction is wisdom. That annoying thread? Give it time. Silence can be strategy. 5. Be Brief, or Be Ignored Long emails = long snooze. Your audience is busy. If they have to scroll thrice, you’ve already lost them. Lead with the point, not a preamble. 💬 Have an email rule you live by? Drop it in the comments—someone out there might need it today. 🔁 And if this helped, share it with someone who’s about to hit “Reply All.” 🧱

Is the urgency culture burning us out? We’ve all felt the pressure—the constant need to respond immediately to every email, message, and ping. But here's a truth we often forget: Not everything requires an instant response. That email? It can wait. It won’t derail your progress or destroy your productivity. You are not a machine, and you’re not designed to work like one. Slowing down doesn’t mean you’re falling behind; it means you’re prioritising what truly matters—your mental health. Pause. Take a breath. Reclaim your time. When you give yourself the space to breathe, you’re doing more than just surviving the workday—you’re protecting your nervous system, your focus, and your long-term well-being. Let’s stop glorifying busyness and start advocating for balance. Your mental health is not a side note; it’s the foundation of everything you do. ~Nerry Toledo

11 Steps to break free from the ‘always on’ culture: (without risking your job) The “always-on” culture is destroying us. You’re halfway through dinner when your phone buzzes. You glance down and see… “ASAP.” Your heart races. You leave your plate untouched. You miss your child’s story about their day. When did we allow this madness to take over our lives? We’ve normalised the idea that: - Every ping is a priority. - Every email is a fire that needs putting out. - Every notification deserves our time. But here’s the hard truth: It doesn’t. That message marked “urgent”? It can wait. That email demanding “ASAP”? It’s rarely life-or-death. The real priority? It’s you. Your mental health is collapsing under the weight of a system that rewards overwork and punishes boundaries. Here are 11 steps to break free from the ‘always-on’ culture: 1/ Set boundaries loudly and proudly. ⩥ Don’t assume people will respect your limits. State them clearly: “I don’t respond to work emails after 6 PM.” 2/ Turn off notifications after hours. ⩥ Your brain needs time to recharge. Mute everything that doesn’t require immediate action. 3/ Use email auto-responses. ⩥ Set an automatic reply: “Thanks for your message. I’ll respond during working hours.” 4/ Stop glorifying busyness. ⩥ Being busy isn’t a badge of honour. Accomplishments are. 5/ Delegate and say No. ⩥ Not everything is your responsibility. Protect your energy like it’s gold. 6/ Uninstall apps you don’t need. ⩥ Social media can wait. Switch off work apps notifications from your personal phone. 7/ Schedule ‘Do Not Disturb’ time. ⩥ Block out hours to focus on deep work, or simply breathe. Protect this time like any critical meeting. 8/ Hold others accountable. ⩥ Call out unrealistic expectations. Sometimes, poor planning on their part isn’t your problem. 9/ Prioritise self-care like a meeting. ⩥ Whether it’s a walk, journaling, or yoga, block time for yourself in your calendar. Self-care isn’t a luxury, it’s a necessity. 10/ Redefine urgency. ⩥ Unless someone’s life is in danger, it’s not urgent. Stop treating it like it is. 11/ Lead by example. ⩥ Create a ripple effect by modelling healthy work habits. Your team will thank you. This is a wake-up call, not just for you, but for everyone in your network. You are not a machine. You are not available 24/7. And anyone who expects that from you is not worth sacrificing your health for. Tomorrow still exists. Choose to live for it. - - - P.S. What time do you stop checking work emails? ♻️ Repost to help others in your network ➕ Follow Cristina for more content like this.

Immediacy over accuracy: Why leaders are answering fast instead of answering right We’ve become addicted to now. Fast replies. Instant decisions. Speed over substance. Gut calls over grounded calls. Immediacy has become the performance drug of modern leadership. But here’s the catch: Every time you answer too fast, you might be answering wrong. & every wrong answer costs your team clarity, time, & trust. ⚡ The rise of reactive leadership Somewhere along the way, “responsiveness” became a leadership virtue. Your team slacks you, & you respond in 2.4 seconds. Investor emails you, & you hit reply before the sentence is done. You look decisive. You feel sharp. But you may be running on reflex, not reasoning. Speed makes you look in control. But accuracy is what actually puts you in control. 🧠 The psychology behind urgency bias Cognitive scientists call it urgency bias—the tendency to prioritize speed over quality in decision-making, especially under pressure. It’s why: • Leaders give direction before understanding the problem • Execs approve slides they haven’t fully read • Founders answer with conviction… & change their mind two hours later Urgency bias gives you momentum—but often in the wrong direction. 🧯 Immediacy often signals insecurity, not clarity Let’s be honest: The pressure to answer now doesn’t come from confidence. It comes from the fear of looking unprepared, slow, or indecisive. But what’s worse: Looking slow—or being wrong at scale? 📉 The cost of instant answers • You set false direction that others scramble to build around • You build a culture of speed-over-thought where rework becomes normal • You erode trust when you backpedal or contradict yourself later You may think you’re being helpful. But fast decisions with poor depth create organizational whiplash. ✅ What real leadership looks like • Buy time when you need it Say, “Let me think on this & get back to you.” (but actually, get back—this isn’t leadership ghosting 101). That’s not weakness—it’s wisdom. • Differentiate urgency from importance Not every question is a fire. Don’t treat it like one. • Build space into your system Your team takes its tempo from you. If you’re always reactive, they will be too. Clarity > Certainty. Accuracy > Immediacy. Leadership > Reflex. 🛑 Pause before you perform The best leaders I’ve worked with don’t answer fast. They answer right. Not because they’re slow— but because they’ve trained themselves to pause, absorb, & respond with intention. So, before you hit reply… ask yourself if this is your answer, or just your reflex. #Leadership #Management #DecisionMaking #ExecutiveLeadership #Clarity #Accuracy #SelfAwareness #LeadershipDevelopment

As a lawyer, you're almost certainly at your best when you can deeply focus on difficult problems for extended periods of time. Therefore, if you're constantly being interrupted being bombarded by all the dings and buzzes from digital devices, then your effectiveness will be hampered. Even the seemingly smallest interruptions—jumping out of that brief you were writing to reply to an email—have context switching costs. And research suggests that when we switch from one task to another, and then back to the original task, it can take more than 20 minutes for our brains to get re-focused. How to deal with this challenge? Use "Do not disturb" on your devices when doing deep work. Yes, lawyers have to be responsive to new requests and questions that come in via email. But, no, it's not necessary to instantly respond to every message the moment it hits your inbox. Try "Do not disturb" for an hour—you'll get more and better deep work done. And then get back to your inbox.

My team can't call me in an emergency. I have zero notifications on my phone. No Slack notifications. No email alerts. No Facebook messages. No Instagram pings. Some people think this is wild, even irresponsible. "How do you stay connected to the business?" That's exactly the point. I don't want to be connected 24/7. Here's what most entrepreneurs get wrong: They think being "always available" makes them better leaders. It actually makes them worse. When your phone is constantly buzzing:  → You're reactive, not strategic  → Your brain never gets deep focus time  → Your team becomes dependent on instant responses  → You're training everyone that urgency is normal When I removed all notifications:  → My team became more independent  → My focus improved dramatically  → My stress levels dropped  → My family got my full presence But here's the real business benefit: I started tracking how many questions my team asked me each week. Because every question that comes to me is a bottleneck. Every time they wait for my answer, we're not scaling. The goal isn't to be needed. The goal is to not be needed. My constraint rules:  → Only two people on my team have my personal number  → WhatsApp for my international ops team (no notifications)  → Voxer for enrollment team (no notifications)  → Everything else goes through proper channels → I check email whenever I get to it. My ops manager handles it. Strategic constraints create freedom. When you're always available, you'll always be needed. When I’m off, I’m OFF. No gray area. The result? My business runs smoother. My team is more empowered. My family gets the best of me. Most CEOs are slaves to their notifications. I chose to be the master of my attention. Your phone should serve your priorities, not control them.

Replying instantly makes you look less valuable. (why you need to set response boundaries - straight from the operating room) 1/ In surgery, you don’t reply to emails → No one expects a WhatsApp mid-bypass → Full focus = best outcomes → Distractions can cost lives 2/ Constant notifications kill deep work → Every ping breaks your flow → You react instead of creating → Focus becomes fragmented 3/ People take your time for granted → Fast replies make you look always available → They assume you’re always “on” → Your time loses its value 4/ Everything becomes a fire drill → If you always fix it fast, they’ll always expect it → No one learns to plan ahead → Your boundaries slowly vanish 5/ You start prioritizing pings over purpose → Inbox becomes your to-do list → LinkedIn DMs over legacy work → Your real goals get pushed aside 6/ You train yourself to be reactive → Everyone else’s needs come first → Your strategy? Hijacked → You forget what you were building 7/ You end the day exhausted → The mental load adds up → Multitasking isn’t mastery → You're busy, but not productive Want to work like a surgeon? Set response windows. Protect your deep work. The world can wait a few hours. How do you manage response time at work? ♻️ Repost and follow Dr. Kerstin Brehm for more leadership + longevity tips that actually work.

Don’t #𝗥𝗲𝗽𝗹𝘆 Instantly! Ever feel like you’re always on call at work? The moment a message pops up, you drop everything to respond because, well, that’s just how things are, right? WRONG ! Responding too fast can actually work against you. Here’s why you should rethink your instant-reply habit: 📩 1. 𝗜𝘁 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘄𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂'𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗹𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝗮𝘃𝗮𝗶𝗹𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 (𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂’𝗿𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘁!)  Reply too fast once, and suddenly, people expect it every time even outside of your working hours. Your personal time slowly disappears, and your boundaries? Just forget it ! Your time is valuable, but if you don’t show it, others won’t respect it. 📩 2. 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 = 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘇𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀  Every quick reply interrupts your workflow. Instead of deep work, you’re stuck in a cycle of reacting to messages. The result? Your actual work suffers. Those small interruptions add up and kill your productivity. 📩 3. 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘀 "𝗨𝗿𝗴𝗲𝗻𝘁"  The moment people realize you’re the "instant response guy", they start sending last-minute requests with unrealistic deadlines. Why plan ahead when they know you’ll just get it done anyway? 🤷🏻♀️ Imagine dealing with 5 different clients and you receive a request from each one of them within the same day. Siaplah kau ! 📩 4. 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗴𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘀𝗺𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗲𝘀  Ever fired off an instant reply, only to realize you should’ve worded it better? Honestly, I have done it before 🙊 but luckily it didn't burn any bridges, okay? Don't be like me! Pause, think and craft a response that doesn’t require an multiple follow-ups or additional clarification emails. 💡 How to slow down (without looking like you ghosted)?  ✅ Set your MS Teams status to “Busy” or “Do Not Disturb” with a message. (𝘌.𝘨. : "𝘍𝘰𝘤𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘱𝘢𝘺𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘭 𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘺")  ✅ Wait 15-30 minutes before responding to non-urgent messages.  ✅ Send an interim response. (𝘌.𝘨. : "𝘎𝘰𝘵 𝘪𝘵! 𝘞𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘭𝘺.")  ✅ Call and clarify questions, then summarize the conversation via email for efficiency. 👉🏽Moral of the story: Being responsive is good but don't be instantly available all the time ! Slow down. Take control of your time. Let them wait a little. Who else has learned this lesson the hard way? Do you reply instantly, or do you make them wait? Let’s hear it in the comments!⬇️

We’ve all been there… The constant ping of emails, Slack messages, and notifications pulling you in a million directions.  Instant replies might look productive, but they’re quietly sabotaging your focus and boundaries.  Here’s why setting communication boundaries is key to both your sanity and long term success: 1️⃣Shifts You from Reactive to Intentional: When you pause before responding, you give yourself the time to prioritize your work first, instead of being stuck in reaction mode. 2️⃣Protects Your Focus: Constant interruptions pull you out of deep work. When you set clear “response times,” you create space to get meaningful work done.  3️⃣Teaches Others to Respect Your Time: When you respond on your terms, you teach colleagues that you’re not available 24/7. Your boundaries build trust and respect. 4️⃣Improves Communication Quality: Slowing down gives you time to craft thoughtful, clear responses. You’ll make better decisions and avoid the “oops, I missed that” moments.  📌 Try This: Block two or three times a day to check messages. Let your team know what to expect and notice how much calmer and more in control you feel. Remember, boundaries aren’t selfish, they’re necessary. You’re valuing your time and energy so you can show up as your best self at work.  👉 Want more tools to help you reduce overwhelm, and thrive at work? Follow for more actionable career strategies!

Not every message, email, call or notification is urgent. No, you don't have to respond immediately every single time. I've been in the corporate world for so many years, but the pressure to instantly reply to everything still catches up with me. So what do I do to tackle it? I unapologetically block out 2-3 hour slots of time during my work for deep focus. No responses. No explanations. No guilt. The outcome? Higher quality work, better relationships, and a much-needed mental space. My mental health is not secondary to someone else's urgency, and neither is yours. How do you handle the constant flow of workplace communication? #WorkplaceCulture #Productivity #MentalHealth #Leadership #WorkLifeBalance