How many emails do you get everyday? Way too many? Does your inbox look like the one in the picture?
I hear you! Email is a very useful tool when used effectively but can be a productivity killer if it isn't handled properly.
Here are 5 tips to help you deal with email overwhelm.
1. Limit how often you check your email
The best tip there is for dealing with e-mail overload is to limit checking your e-mail to once or twice a day. Unless you’re waiting on a crucial time sensitive e-mail, there’s no need for you to check your e-mail more then twice daily. With all the other forms of communication available, you don’t even need to check it every single day.
Most people like to unnecessarily check their e-mail several times a day. You have a life and it involves worrying about things besides e-mail. To have fewer e-mails to worry about, ask your friends and relatives to call/text you instead of e-mailing. You want to have fewer e-mails since you’re not checking frequently. If it’s a message that can wait for a reply, schedule a reply to be sent in a few days. If you keep checking your e-mail because you send yourself task reminders, it’s time to change your method. Planners were invented for a reason! If you don’t like planners you can use a word document or a tasklist software.
2. Don’t use your inbox as storage space
With e-mail providers now letting users have up to ten megabites of space, many people store documents and photos in their accounts. It’s fine to e-mail yourself such things as backups, but have a proper filing system for things you use regularly.
3. Make email less accessible
Perhaps you check your e-mail frequently because it’s part of your homepage. If this is the case, you need to change your homepage. Once you login and finish checking your e-mail, sign out and close the page. If your e-mail is always open, it’s always going to be on your mind. Close that site and move on to more important things.
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