As they say regarding productivity, create better defaults. Add friction to distracting activities. Make it easy to start the tasks that matter. Soon, habits will form. – Better Defaults
Regarding email first thing, I took it off my phone so I can’t check it.
I also don’t check email until after I’ve done my big main tasks for the day.
Today being sick, don’t expect an email response at all. I might get to it tomorrow.
A great way to help you get better defaults is to ask yourself “What is the one thing I can do today to make the rest of my business easier or irrelevant?”
I do that every day and so many times it has nothing to do with email or what others think is important for me at all.