How To Master Email

Remember, please that my work as a productivity consultant doesn't mean that I teach folks how to do more faster, more faster, and then faster still, until you fall apart. My purpose is to guide folks to identify the tasks that are profitable for them, and to focus on those tasks as their highest priority, all the time striving to maintain a profitable level of function in each profitable area of activity. In other words, There is such a thing as too much of a good thing. Such is often the case with email.

How many times do you check email every day? How much time does it take? How much of your email in the office is official and how much is unofficial?

Our purpose is true to the basics of economics; that everyone works for incentives, i.e. Your company exists for financial profit. Every worker works for the incentives of cash and other benefits.

My purpose is to help you accomplish your required tasks with less time in the office, for the incentive of a non cash benefit: More time for your personal interests....more time off. This creates an environment for increased motivation and creativity. Bosses and supervisors are well advised to use this incentive with employees whenever possible. It will benefit your work environment and, in time, your bottom line.

Now, to you, the reader, whether you are the owner, boss or worker, the reason you should get your email habits under control is because that action will eliminate much wasted (unprofitable) time and enable you to finish your day's work earlier, without cheating your email duties and without working faster and faster.

The solution is simple. First take an inventory of how many times a day you check email, and how much time each check takes. This will vary, so add up all the minutes you spend handling email on a random day...and also note how many times you went to your inbox. After you try my suggestions below, measure again and compare.

For the next day, set a special time and promise yourself that you will check email only two times, at times you decide on before you leave the office today. Twice a day. This will work for most people. If you must have hyper responsive email for customer service, you can set up an autoresponder to respond to each customer with a form letter for you, or you can automatically outsource and forward those emails to someone who can answer 95% of them for you, from a list you provide.

Do what's necessary, but reduce your email checking to two checks daily, with the idea of moving once per day after about 30 days on the twice daily schedule. You may want to send all your contacts a nice email explaining that so you can provide better service, you will be checking email twice a day and give them the hour that you schedule that for. They will know that if they get an email to you before your morning check, they will get an answer

Get yourself mentally ready before you go to your inbox. Determine that you will aggressively delete any obvious spam on sight, before you get tempted and distracted. Then, open each message thatis work related and either answer it or flag it for special action. Make every effort to respond to each one as you open them, however, you may have to put some in the pending mode, if research is required. If you have help, you may want to have a helper find out why Mrs. Allen's order was not packed properly and send her an apologetic response and a refund, for instance. Emails that are personal should be left unopened until all your work is done for the day. I use separate email addresses for different categories of correspondence and open each inbox only at its appropriate time.

This sounds rigid, I know. That's because it is serious. If you are among the majority of workers/bosses who just float along whichever way the current flows, who knows where you'll end up. If you are among those who want to rise to the top, ahead of your peers, this kind of management of your work habits, with your focus on productivity will enable you to set a definite course to a definite destination, and will make it possible for you to arrive successfully. You can do it. I know you can. You just need to decide to navigate towards success, and then take the first step. The next step will be more natural.