Christa Wagner

I have been doing a little experiment of my own to reduce the amount of email I receive.  And what do you you know?  It seems to be working. 

In another postings, Detox Your Inbox, we shared strategies to help you manage your inbox, but I recently tried reducing the amount of emails I was sending to reduce the amount of emails I was receiving. 

Here’s how it works.  Two steps. 

1. Ask yourself if you must send the email.  Does this person need the information?  Could a phone call be easier?  You know when you go back and forth over 10 emails to schedule an appointment and a call would have nipped it in 2 minutes? 
2. Avoid responding to all emails.  Now I am not recommending ignoring emails, I read them and always respond to important emails.  But anything that does not require a response, I simply delete.  I know this sounds easy, but so many of the emails we receive say nothing at all and by responding we only add to the chaos.  For example, say someone sends you something as an FYI, or says thank you and then you respond, and then they respond to you, and you can see where this is going.  Email overload!!

Email has become the largest man made distraction in our work day.  It’s important to adjust our habits and focus on the tasks that really matter.  Give it a try and see if your inbox is a little lighter in the days to come.

Tags: Email, email overload, Email tips, Managing Email

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 12th, 2008 at 12:21 pm and is filed under Business Organizing, Email, Office Organizing, Time Saving Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.