EMail Management

We are all using email as a part of daily business.  It is unavoidable. Email can be an efficient means of communicating updates, tasks, requests or just keeping people in the loop of a conversation. But we do way too much of it or at least there are ways we can improve how we manage it.

I was reading a great article on brasstackthinking.comwhere the author talked about a simple four step strategy to handling your email. It's called Do, Delegate, Defer, Delete. Here's what she suggests:

DO - If it only takes a couple of minutes and is relatively important, do whatever task is required then delete the email.

DELEGATE - If it is for someone else to act on, forward and delegate, then archive the item.

DEFER - If you need to act but it'll take more than a few minutes, use a colour coding system and leave it in your inbox and add to your task list.

DELETE - If none of the above, delete.

Author Amber Naslund also offers up these simple suggestions to help you manage your email a little better.

1) unsubscribe to reduce volume - you know which ones to get rid of

2) turn off email notifications from social networks

3) email overload is psychological - get the clutter out and feel better and more in control

4) don't panic if you miss an email - if it's urgent, the sender will find alternate ways to contact you

So set aside an hour tonight and clean the rubble out of your inbox!!

(photo courtesy jscreationzs from freedigitalphotos.net)