If you are one of the people who receives 50+ emails a day, stop and analyse the source.
If any of these emails are not work related advise these people to send your personal emails to a personal email address that you check only when you have free time to do so. If a friend or family member needs to contact you during work hours advise them to phone you or send you a text message.
If you are receiving newsletters take another look, are they adding value to your work life? If not unsubscribe or use a different email address to receive newsletters.
Do you receive any emails are cc emails, If you are sent a cc mail more than likely this email isn’t as important as an email sent directly to you. Set up a rule in your email program to send all ccmail to a separate folder which you can check at a later stage. This should reduce the numbers of email in your inbox.
How to process the email you do receive.
If you ever want to be one of those people who have zero or very few emails in their inbox you must create the new habit of dealing with each email one at a time. You must only move to the next item when you have handled the first.
Start by viewing or filtering your email by the person who sent you the email very often you can quickly scan the emails with your reading pane to see how important they are. You can do this also by subject or by date sent.
Remember to use the Barbara Hemphill rule when processing your email File Act or Trash.
1. If you have no need for the email delete it
2. If you wish to hold onto it for reference create a reference folder section in your personal email folders.
3. If the email requires action make a decision and decide what needs to be done.
If you can respond to the email in less than two minutes do so straight away and then delete or file the email. If you need more time to respond plan the work that needs doing, either put it in your calendar or your to do or task list.
Each time you process your email be it daily, twice a day or three times a day you must follow the FAT rule, File Act or Trash, never move onto the next item until you have made a decision about what to do with the email
Research shows that 50 percent of your email can be deleted 30 percent can be delegated or completed in less than 2 minutes and 20 percent can be deferred to your calendar or task list. So when you follow the FAT rule you can have the respectable clutter free inbox you’ve only dreamed of!
My two favourite email tips:
1. Turn off all email notification on your PC (“You’ve got mail” must be the number 1 productivity and Focus killer around!)
2. Only process your email at allocated times during the day. Advise people of your processing times in your email signature, if anyone needs to get in touch with your urgently tell them to pick up the phone
Take control of your inbox and don’t allow it to take control of you
Good Luck
Celtic Guru
Email: The overloaded inbox - To learn more about this author, visit Celtic Guru's Website.
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