Set a time
Choose a couple of times during the day when you’ll deal with your email.
MORE IDEAS FROM THE ARTICLE
Create email signatures ready to go to save time and annoyance when you’re composing or responding to emails.
Make sure you bring your inbox count down to zero so you can start fresh the next morning.
Any messages that still need to be dealt with should be either moved or responded to.
- What’s the main point of your email?
- What action do you want the recipient to take?
- What critical facts do you need to get across in your email?
Give yourself a limit to the length of your response and stick to it.
Rules are automatic actions your email software will take depending on what guidelines you’ve set up.
Create the following 2 folders:
- Require Action besides simply responding.
- Require Response. File emails here that you are unable to respond to immediately.
All other emails, once read, should go directly to their appropriate permanent files using rules.
Interrupting a task with notifications leads to a loss of concentration and a decline in productivity levels.
Feel free to set up an autoresponder re-directing all urgent matters to your phone.
RELATED IDEAS
Responding to emails as soon as you receive a notification gives others the impression that you’re at their beck and call. It also prevents you from reflecting on your own priorities for the day.
More than one-quarter of a worker's day on average is spent answering and reading emails - email is the second-most time-consuming activity for workers, next to "role-specific tasks."
think of every email you get as either something you need to take action on, track, or refer to later.
Every time you open a conversation, decide right away what to do with it. Don’t postpone and come back to it. You touch it once and move on.