Powerful ideas from top nonfiction
Try Blinkist to get the key ideas from 7,000+ bestselling nonfiction titles and podcasts. Listen or read in just 15 minutes.
Start your free trial
Blink 3 of 8 - The 5 AM Club
by Robin Sharma
Listen to the Intro
A World Without Email summary
Cal Newport
Reimagining Work in an Age of Communication Overload
28 mins
Table of Contents
A World Without Email
Summary of 8 key ideas
Audio & text in the Blinkist app
Key idea 1 of 8
Email leads to a hyperactive workflow, which impedes productivity.
When the author first interviewed Sean, the cofounder of a small technology firm, his company was in the midst of a productivity fiasco.
It began with an email fixation – practically every business activity was handled via the employees’ inboxes. Then, once the company adopted an instant-messaging tool called Slack, things got really crazy. Business clients were granted access to the service, which meant they could pop in and ask questions at any time. Soon, Sean was working until 1:00 a.m. every night because he could barely finish anything important during the day.
Sean’s company was deep in what the author calls the hyperactive hive mind workflow. It’s characterized by a constant, ongoing conversation within an organization, in which employees’ activities are determined by the messages in their inboxes.
The key message here is: Email leads to a hyperactive workflow, which impedes productivity.
The truth is, in workplaces today, the hyperactive hive mind workflow is pretty ubiquitous. That’s no surprise, as nothing fosters it like email. And it’s killing productivity. Why?
On average, modern knowledge workers check their email once every six minutes. In total, they spend over a third of their working hours in their inboxes – an absolutely incredible amount of time!
These numbers are already staggering, but the problem gets worse. In 2018, a software company called RescueTime monitored the computer habits of 50,000 active users. They ultimately concluded that, all told, the average knowledge worker gets just an hour and 15 minutes of undistracted productive work done per day.
Clearly, the constant focus on email is disastrous for productivity. But why is that the case? Well, because of the human brain – specifically, a region called the prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for attention.
The prefrontal cortex is only capable of focusing on one thing at a time. Yet the hyperactive hive mind workflow encourages us to maintain multiple ongoing electronic conversations, all while completing the difficult aspects of our jobs, like coding computer programs or writing business strategies.
Psychologically, this takes a toll: rapidly switching between tasks takes time and energy. So when we multitask, we end up taking longer to complete each activity than we would if we were executing each one in isolation.
Many people freely admit that email makes them less productive. But they also believe they don’t have a choice – that responsiveness is more important to their teams than optimized performance. That’s understandable but wrong.
Want to see all full key ideas from A World Without Email?
Key ideas in A World Without Email
More knowledge in less time
Read or listen
Get the key ideas from nonfiction bestsellers in minutes, not hours.
Find your next read
Get book lists curated by experts and personalized recommendations.
Shortcasts New
We’ve teamed up with podcast creators to bring you key insights from podcasts.
What is A World Without Email about?
A World Without Email (2021) presents a bold reimagining of the workplace, one in which the days of email and instant messaging are a thing of the past. It argues that while email may seem like an integral part of modern knowledge work, it’s actually making everyone less productive and less focused, not to mention miserable. The solution will require a major paradigm shift – but it will be well worth the effort.
Who should read A World Without Email?
- Business leaders who want to root out inefficiencies in their organizations
- Employees frustrated with the workplace culture of constant communication
- Freelancers and entrepreneurs looking to improve their workflow
Categories with A World Without Email
Books like A World Without Email
People ❤️ Blinkist
Sven O.
It's highly addictive to get core insights on personally relevant topics without repetition or triviality. Added to that the apps ability to suggest kindred interests opens up a foundation of knowledge.
Thi Viet Quynh N.
Great app. Good selection of book summaries you can read or listen to while commuting. Instead of scrolling through your social media news feed, this is a much better way to spend your spare time in my opinion.
Jonathan A.
Life changing. The concept of being able to grasp a book's main point in such a short time truly opens multiple opportunities to grow every area of your life at a faster rate.
Renee D.
Great app. Addicting. Perfect for wait times, morning coffee, evening before bed. Extremely well written, thorough, easy to use.
People also liked
Start growing with Blinkist now
28 Million
Downloads on all platforms
4.7 Stars
Average ratings on iOS and Google Play
91%
Of Blinkist members create a better reading habit*
*Based on survey data from Blinkist customers