Why I haven’t used email in 25 days

On April 1, Jim and I gave up email. 25 days later, I haven’t checked, sent, or read a work or personal email, and Jim has had only 2 mishaps. During April, the most frequent questions I’ve received about giving up email are, “How are you doing this?” and “Why are you doing this?”. The first answer is obvious: Asana. The second answer is a bit longer:

1. Email is a time suck

We spend about 30% of our time at work in email (according to McKinsey). That seems like a lot of time spent NOT getting work done. I wondered how much time I’d get back not worrying about work or personal email.

2. I was halfway there

Yes, that’s a Bon Jovi reference. When you use Asana for all internal team communication, email is an afterthought at work. The bigger challenge for me was giving up personal email.

3. Breaking a habit is a fun challenge (at least for me)

I realized a challenge like this could give me newfound insight. When you stop using something, you learn more than when you use it all the time. And I wanted to show that life goes on without checking email compulsively.

4. To think deeply about communication

As a marketer at Asana, I think about the way people communicate and how to explain the value of Asana as a communication tool every day. I wanted to evaluate why–even with the availability of post-email apps–most people still use email all day.

5. To spread Asana love

With Asana, communication is actionable, transparent, and organized, since every conversation is centered around tasks. By telling people via an out of office message about the no email challenge, I hope I inspired people trying to connect with me to try Asana.

Feeling inspired?

I don’t recommend that you give up email for 30 days. Going cold turkey on email is not as feasible for people who aren’t using Asana with their team, nor is it required to use Asana successfully–Asana is meant to replace email within your team. But, if you do want to take on a similar challenge, I recommend trying to use Asana for all internal team communication for 30 days (or look to Morgan Spurlock for advice).

We will post the final score and the big winner of the challenge on May 1!