15 Apr
04 Dec
Do you feel a slave to your emails? They just keep coming and your attention is drawn to them each time they ping you. Maybe you are always dealing with the unimportant.
You're not alone. Many people find themselves caught in the trap of dealing with all emails immediately or, alternatively, they don’t deal with them at all and there are 100s sitting in their inbox unopened.
The skill is to sort quickly and deal with what's important.
Here's an approach that can save you time and effort:
1. EMAIL TIMES
Set aside specific times in a day when you deal with emails exclusively. Outside of these times you ignore all emails.
The best approach is after you plan the day early in the morning; after lunch but only check for urgent issues, and finally before you leave for the day.
If you spend more than an hour dealing with emails you may need to question your approach.
2. SORT, SELECT and DESTROY
You need to develop a methodology which allows you to sort your emails simply and quickly.
Here is one method:
• Five Minute Response Emails
Collect all those that can be dealt with in less than 5 minutes. Put them into a separate folder to action straight after sorting the emails.
• Later Action Emails
Place all these into a Later Action File. These require work or discussion or more detailed effort. They are usually project related or major activity related. This file is a holding pen where you sort out what needs to happen, with whom and when. Once you work out the action required the email is filed and a set of work activities are developed. The work is scheduled and you track this separately.
• Filing
Some emails may be relevant or important at a later time. It is unclear but you feel it may be premature to ditch the doc. The best way to handle this is to create a file that relates to the subject or project then place it in a location where you can find it and retrieve it if necessary. Don’t worry too much about what you call it, if you end up having more than one name for the subject. They key is you can retrieve if needed. If you have not used these files after several weeks or months you can store them in archive or the trash. My argument is always to try for trash. In my experience I hardly ever retrieve info from archive. The only times are when I know it contains a version of an old document that might be useful.
• Trash and Smash
This is the best way to deal with emails and it can be fun. The goal is to put as many emails in the trash as you can and totally smash the contents of your inbox, your ‘5 min’ file and your ‘later action’ file. It is amazing how much relief you get from not having these emails hanging around. You may think that just having the email there in your inbox won’t distract you but I assure you it will.
Step 1 – trash and eliminate as many emails as you can from the inbox
Step 2 – review the 5 minute response file.
Ask yourself - if I did not do anything, what would happen? What is the minimum response I can give? Finally respond in less than a minute (you have already taken 4 minutes to think of what you need to do).
Step 3 – review your later action file
Ask yourself, can I trash these because someone else will deal with this – pass it on; delegate? What are the actions required? File it with your list of follow up actions. Make sure you date them both when they require a response and action when you will start the work.
3. ZERO EMAILS IN THE INBOX
Always leave the day with zero emails in your in box. That is your number 1 goal. When you can do this you will feel free of the insidious control emails have on your life.