After a long weekend of being offline it’s an interesting process to get reconnected. I found myself moving quickly through the lighter volume of mail that came in over the weekend, with a quick reply as needed, closing down within ten minutes. As I commuted into the city this morning. What struck my eye was an article on email management and how shackled we have become t email. The article “It’s time to take control of your inbox” cites the following studies:
For many years now I have been pointing professionals to the 4 D model of time management, a iteration of which they reference in the article. The article also recommends a modification of this in “taming your inbox”. Consider how you can :
Do it
Dump it
Delete it
Defer it
As it relates to email management, this might entail:
Do it – Set fixed periods during the day to check email. During other times, where feasible, turn it off to support you in focusing on one task at a time
Dump it – Consider what emails/subscriptions could be dumped. What is adding value to your day? What is weighing you down?
Delete it - What can automatically go to the delete pile? Are there specific terms which you know become automatic junk email. I know for our business anything SEO related gets siphoned off.
Defer it – what are the emails you need to look at later? Be careful with the defer pile that if you do need to touch it more than once you schedule in time. For some professionals a better solution may be to check more frequently (i.e five times a day – not 36 times an hour!) and respond, clearing the inbox as you go.
As you consider starting a new week, with perhaps lighter volume than normal, what do you want to change about how you approach your inbox this week?
- Some of us check our email up to 36 times an hour
- Approximately 45% of email we receive is spam
- One assets that we could spend up to 30 hours a week checking new email
- Some of us receive 200,000 emails in a year (yes, I may be in this category)
For many years now I have been pointing professionals to the 4 D model of time management, a iteration of which they reference in the article. The article also recommends a modification of this in “taming your inbox”. Consider how you can :
Do it
Dump it
Delete it
Defer it
As it relates to email management, this might entail:
Do it – Set fixed periods during the day to check email. During other times, where feasible, turn it off to support you in focusing on one task at a time
Dump it – Consider what emails/subscriptions could be dumped. What is adding value to your day? What is weighing you down?
Delete it - What can automatically go to the delete pile? Are there specific terms which you know become automatic junk email. I know for our business anything SEO related gets siphoned off.
Defer it – what are the emails you need to look at later? Be careful with the defer pile that if you do need to touch it more than once you schedule in time. For some professionals a better solution may be to check more frequently (i.e five times a day – not 36 times an hour!) and respond, clearing the inbox as you go.
As you consider starting a new week, with perhaps lighter volume than normal, what do you want to change about how you approach your inbox this week?
Jennifer Britton, MES, CPT, PCC
Potentials Realized
Supporting Team Leaders to do their best work, one conversation at a time
Coaching Skills Training | Teamwork | Leadership
Author of From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching(Jossey-Bass, 2013)
(416)996-TEAM (8326)
Potentials Realized
Supporting Team Leaders to do their best work, one conversation at a time
Coaching Skills Training | Teamwork | Leadership
Author of From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching(Jossey-Bass, 2013)
(416)996-TEAM (8326)
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