Taming Email Overload at NY Report

One of my big issues when managing my own time is not allowing anyone else set my agenda. However, when you are a slave to email, that is exactly what you are doing. At our weekly company meeting, Amy, our sales director, brought up this issue and referred to an article that appeared in our November issue - "Staying Productive in the Information Age." As part of an effort to become more productive, she is going to try to only check emails four times a day. If that fails, she'll limit herself to once an hour. Since that "new mail" icon can be difficult to resist, she can either turn off the alerts, turn email offline, or log out of email completely and keep the BlackBerry out of sight.

Several of the other employees chimed in with how they reduce email distractions. Business development manager Chris Peel said he creates rules in email account to have all his newsletters delivered directly into a designated folder, instead of his inbox, so he is able to see only relevant emails as they come in and view newsletters when he has the time. I subscribe to newsletters under my Gmail account, so that only business-related correspondence is sent to my Outlook inbox.

It is just as important to be respectful of other's time. Instead of distracting others with several emails each day, managing editor Daria Meoli keeps draft emails open for other team members and as thoughts or projects come up, she adds them to the draft email and saves it, but doesn't send it. She sets the email rule to send after a specific time, so the team member receives only one email from her the next morning.

Comments

[Ilene Drexler - Certified Professional Organizer of The Organizing Wiz ®]

As a professional organizer, my favorite email tip for Outlook is to drag and drop an email directly from your inbox to your calendar folder, to avoid having to enter the item manually on your calendar. Perfect for when the email needs follow up on a specific date (make it an all day event) or if it needs to be appended to a meeeting invitation for discussion at the meeting. Once you drag the message to the calendar folder, just update the date/time on the calendar popup window. A copy of the original email will also stay in your mail folders.

[Rose]

Daria's reco is a great one!!

[William Anderson]

unfortunately, as business owners/executives, we're all slaves to email to some extent, but it doesn't have to be a bad thing.

i set up my mail application (apple mail) in the following way:

+ view | organize by thread
+ create a folder: action
+ create a folder: to file
+ create a folder: filed

the 'organize by thread' allows me to quickly navigate a single conversation.

the 'action'/'to file' folders are associated with an imap account, so i can review when i'm on my mobile.

the 'filed' folder is a single folder that holds all my correspondence (which is terrific for searching).

i also turn off all email bells and whistles such as automatic send/reply, alerts, sounds, etc. this gives me the sense that i have a bit more control over my email.

when an email comes in, i quickly review it. if it needs immediate attention, i respond and drop it in the 'filed' folder. if it's not urgent, but needs my attention, i drop it into the 'action' folder. if i'm not able to get to my 'action' folder before i head out on the road, i still have access to it (since it's an imap-based folder/account).

rules are another great tool - just be sure to review them from time to time!

[Matthew Weiss, President of Weiss & Associates, PC]

This is a great topic and I am embarrassed to say that I check and respond to emails way to often. Thanks Rob (and team) for reminding me to check less frequently and consequently increase my efficiency.

[Naomi E. Goodhart, Primerica Senior Representative]

In the statement about what Amy will be doing about reading email, the word "try" was used. What you're really saying here is that she wishes she will cut back. In fact, others things will get in the way of her "trying" to cut back. She is telling her subconscious that she's not really committed to the effort.

If, instead, she told herself she "is in the process of" or "working towards," her subconscious mind will hear something else and will work to help her get to her goal.

This method has worked for me for years. Try it and see for yourself!

[NY Organizer]

You've made a lot of good suggestions in this post. I have found, that it is best to create a work-only email account. I keep separate accounts for newsletters, etc, that I stay logged out of during work time, much like you suggested. This has worked out very well for me. The method Daria has implemented sounds very effective as well. Thanks!