by Robert
Greenshields
http://www.MindPowerMarketing.com
©
2007
Although email is an essential business tool, it can
also turn out to be a real productivity killer.
One survey
showed that most of us spend more than a quarter of our working day responding
to emails.
So we can free up a lot of time by following
these seven tips on managing email effectively.
1. Stop
checking your email every few minutes
The sense of speed
and immediacy makes most of us want to react as soon as an email arrives. But
the old-fashioned daily mail delivery was actually much more efficient. That way
you can plan your time more effectively and focus on priorities.
So
the first step in getting control over your email is to stop checking it every
few minutes and start checking it twice a day. That means logging out of your
email account at all other times. And if you have a notification alert that tells
you each time an email arrives ' you need to switch it off.
2.
Set strict time limits on the time you spend checking emails
If
you decide in advance how long you are going to spend dealing with emails, it
stops you wasting time on the less important ones.
It encourages
you to act on the ones that need attention rather than following an interesting
link, reading jokes, or following pointless discussions. And we are generally
more efficient when we concentrate on one type of task at a time.
For
most people, a limit of about 15 minutes at a time is probably appropriate. Yes
that is 15 minutes twice a day ' which may not seem much. But you'll be surprised
at how disciplined you can become.
3. Use separate email
accounts for different purposes.
It's often worth considering
having different email accounts for different purposes. For example keep business
and personal separate. And have one business account for important contacts and
another for newsletter subscriptions and mailing lists. You can then check the
less urgent one less often.
4. Scan first to decide what's
important
Your email account doesn't know which items are
most important so it serves them to you in the order they arrive. Many people
are tempted to deal with them in that order too.
Deal with
your email in the way you would read a newspaper. Look at the subject line and
the name of the sender first. That lets you concentrate your time and attention
on the most important emails.
5. Apply a one-touch approach
The
best way to remain on top of your email is to handle it quickly and decide whether
to do it, delegate it or delete it rather than spending too much time thinking
about it.
6. Use technology to make email management easier
Email
has time-saving technology built in but few of us make full use of it. For example:
-
create an easy-to-follow filing process using folders and sub-folders.
-
use the search function to find old emails.
- set up 'rules'
to apply specific actions to messages that fit these rules.
-
set up autoresponders to avoid having to respond to every email manually.
7.
Create standard replies to common inquiries
You can create
templates or standard wordings that you can re-use by simple cut-and paste rather
than creating the same message multiple times.
So remember
that email can be a productivity killer or it can play a vital role in building
your business and making your day more productive. It's up to you to decide which
you prefer!
