Managing Email

Take control and reap the rewards

Email is one of the biggest distractions in our busy lives, with over 300 billion items flying around the globe each day!  Even allowing for the fact that a significant amount is junk, that’s still a lot.

For many it’s a daily nightmare –

But it doesn’t have to be that way, if properly managed it has two great benefits over other communication channels;

            You determine when you look at it, and

            You determine what priority you give it.

This doesn’t happen with phone calls, or instant messages or even someone showing up at your desk.  With those channels it’s the other party that decides (except on the rare occasion someone uses voicemail to field calls).

Here are my top five tips for getting and keeping control of email.

STOP all notifications, no more ‘pings’ or on-screen prompts telling you something has just landed in your inbox. Turn off the temptation.

INSTEAD set aside a couple of times a day when you’ll go and see what’s landed and deal with new emails then.

Email shouldn’t be used as a channel for urgent communication – so this shouldn’t be an issue. However, if the thought of leaving your email for a few hours makes you nervous set up an automatic message that reads something like this;

“I check my emails twice a day, first thing in the morning and at 3pm.  If your message us urgent and can’t wait until my next scheduled review, please contact me on…”

STOP setting up email folders based on the content or sender of the email.

INSTEAD set up a small number of folders that are about what you need to do with an email.  Ultimately all useful emails will end up in a single folder.  There’s no need for subject driven folders – the search facilities these days are fantastic.

I’d suggest something like the following;

Inbox – speaks for itself

Waiting – emails you need to action but can’t until someone else does something

Resources – no action needed but interesting/useful stuff

Done – work related emails that have either been actioned – or have time scheduled to action

Bin – speaks for itself

STOP using a junk/spam folder

INSTEAD let everything go to your inbox and control that.  Junk filters are notorious for getting it wrong.  Important stuff goes into junk, and spam still makes its way into your inbox, so what’s the point anyway?

STOP deleting junk/spam that’s in your inbox

INSTEAD unsubscribe to stop getting it in the first place or use in-built rules so that it passes straight to the bin.

STOP guessing what’s a priority

INSTEAD use conditional formatting so key messages stand out from the crowd.  Use larger or different coloured fonts

There’s more to keeping in control of email – but these tips will set you up on the road to being Master of Your Inbox – and who doesn’t want that?

For more useful tips check out the resources section of the website