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September 10, 2013
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There’s no worse feeling than opening your inbox to find hundreds of emails that need your immediate attention. It doesn’t matter who you are or what you do for a living, a seemingly endless flow influx of emails is certain to give anyone a tension headache.
If you’re suffering from productivity problems at work — or even at home — your high email volume may be to blame. This shouldn’t come as a surprise when 53 percent of office workers prefer to send an email rather than picking up the phone.
Managing your inbox sucks. Be more productive by cutting your email in half.
Here’s how I did it:
Step 1: Find the culprits of your endless inbox. Take a look at who you’re receiving the most emails from every day, as well as how many emails are being sent directly to you versus being CCed. This will allow you to target a few of your potential problem areas.
If you’re using Gmail for your primary email, you can monitor this more easily by using Gmail Meter. And for a better “people-centric” view of your inbox, check out Immersion from MIT.
Step 2: Politely ask people to reduce their number of emails. Now that you know the names of a few of your inbox-filling cuprates, it’s time to have a face-to-face or phone conversation about reducing the emails. You’ll get to the bottom of the problem much faster this way.
Regardless of whether the person is one of your project managers or a close friend, have a brief solution-based conversation. Set up a call or a meeting to discuss a few alternatives to the number of daily or weekly emails you’re receiving. Ask the emailer to come with options, but also present your own.
Step 3: Set rules for being CC’d. While this may come as a shock to some of you, there’s really no reason for you to be CC’d on every single email in your company, a project, or within a specific group. Have a brief conversation with those who feel the need to CC you on everything to set some rules for using this basic function.
For example, tell them to avoid adding your name unless there is something directly needing your attention in the email. Better yet, have them call you when something important arises instead.
Step 4: Know when to pick up the phone. You’ve laid some ground rules for your repeat email offenders, but now it’s time to lay some for yourself. From here on out, plan to pick up the phone and make a call when there are two or more emails in a chain. If something can’t be hashed out in two emails, then a 10-minute phone call will do the trick. This will not only cut down your email volume, it will also allow you to tackle issues much faster.
Step 5: Stop using email as your only communication channel. Are you guilty of using email for something that’s more easily managed with another communication channel? Email isn’t the answer to all of your communication needs. If you want to have a quick chat with someone, consider using instant messaging. For more pressing topic, pick up the phone or schedule a video chat.
Step 6: Take advantage of helpful tools. If you’re sick of unwanted emails or a generally disorganized inbox, it’s time to set up automated sorting and filters. Most major email programs offer an area for you to choose sorting rules to help send unwanted emails into the spam file or any other filter you think is necessary.
Some other helpful email tools to try include Unroll.me and SaneBox. With Unroll.me, you can get back the time it takes to sort through all of your emails by receiving one daily digest email of the multiple subscription emails you receive. While SaneBox acts as your personal email assistant by thoroughly filtering your inbox to help rank emails based on importance and organizes them accordingly.
Step 7: Put BCC to use. If you’re looking to keep someone in the loop that isn’t necessarily part of the conversation, try BCCing them. This works perfectly for when you’re introduced to someone via email. Instead of keeping this person CC’d and likely annoyed, move them to the BCC section.
Put these steps into play to transform your inbox into a more organized, productive, and efficient place.
How do you keep handle a large influx of emails?
About Ilya Pozin:
Founder of Ciplex. Columnist for Inc, Forbes & LinkedIn. Gadget lover, investor, mentor, husband, father, and ’30 Under 30′ entrepreneur. Follow Ilya below to stay up-to-date with his articles and updates!
Featured on:Your Career
Posted by:Ilya Pozin
