How to Stop Sending Late-Night Emails: Effective Strategies for Overcoming Work Addiction and Setting Boundaries

As someone who had a diagnosed work addiction for almost two years of my career, I can tell you that I was a massive offender of late-night (many times at 2:00 am) and weekend emails. I was up because my racing thoughts were telling me that I needed to get ahead, and I thought I might as well clear out my inbox and check off my to-do lists. I didn’t expect people to respond to me at that time, I just wanted to get it done.

What I didn’t realize were the unintentional messages I was sending to my teammates and clients. Here are 4 very common interpretations from the receiving end of your post-business hour emailing:

1. If I’m working late, you should be too. Hey – you need to realize that work is 24/7 in this day and age, and whether you like it or not, if I’m working, so should you! What are you lazy?
2. I don’t have boundaries. Why else would you be responding to emails on nights and weekends? Clearly, you’re accessible anytime time we need you! So, I expect to hear back from you whenever I need you, no matter what. You’ve already shown me that it’s okay.
3. I don’t respect your time. Midnight, Saturday afternoon, whatever. What could you possibly be doing that’s more important than responding to my communication?
4. I’m overwhelmed. I’m so overloaded that the only time I can actually attend to my emails is when you’re not working. Pity party for 1?

So now I’m expecting the biggest offenders of this to say things like, “Well, it really is the only time I can send those emails,” or “I’d never get my work done if I didn’t do it that way.” So if that’s really your case, first I feel sorry for you. I know that feeling all too well, and it’s not a good one. I do believe that it’s mostly a mind game that we play with ourselves, though, and until you can get a grip on your schedule, you’ll never be able to see it otherwise.

Try one of these 4 techniques that worked wonders for me!

1. Tell them you don’t expect a response. If you really just MUST send that email, send a note at the top that says something like **I don’t expect you to respond to this over the weekend. Just wanted to get it off my plate.**
2. Time block your email communications. I try to only do email before 9:00am and after 3:00pm so I can get all my other work done from 9 – 3 during the day. It’s really hard to not shoot off a quick response when one comes in, but I promise you that responding a few hours after that person contacted you if still quite timely and respectful.
3. Save the email as a draft and send it the next day. Or if you have one of those cool programs like Boomerang or Mixmax, you can actually schedule your emails to go out during business hours with the “send later” option. It’s incredible!
4. Set a firm “Quitting Time”. I read this in Better than Before by Gretchen Rubin. You don’t have to set the same time every day because that could be unrealistic. But when you do decide to end for the day, put a stake in the ground and tell yourself, “That’s all for folks”. As in, no checking emails – even if you’re not responding. It’s hard to switch to “off-mode” when you still have one foot in the race. I’m working on this one now and am so excited about what it will do to benefit my downtime.

Are you a late-night or weekend email offender? If you are, are you willing to try one of these techniques? Let me know if any work for you or if you have another one to offer!

In addition, if you are a conscious leader who wants to learn more techniques to create a thriving workplace culture, check out my new company culture book – Permission to Be Human: The Conscious Leaders Guide to Creating a Values-Driven Culture.

And for those of you (like me) who enjoy a visual: