One of the greatest technological inventions of the past century has been email. Think of how email has accelerated the speed in which we’re able to relay information.
We’ve gone from fax machines and the mail to a tool that can relay a seemingly unlimited sized message to anyone anywhere in the world. It’s really fascinating when you think about it.
With any great invention it has it drawbacks. Just like our addiction to our phones, email creates an addiction. After unlocking your phone you check your social media sites, soon after or maybe even the first thing you do is check your email. How many times a day do you do this? Do you ever truly get away from you email? Personal or business, it doesn’t seem to matter people love to always be peeking at it.
What is the difference if we see an email immediately after you receive it, an hour later or even four hours later? Is any email that urgent? Is FOMO (Fear of missing out) kicking in? If something is that urgent from someone, wouldn’t they call or text you? Does the societal pressure of speed creep in and play a role?
I feel that pressure is the reason why most are unable to turn away from their email. They have it in their mind that they need to be responding within seconds. The problem is that you’re setting this expectation of yourself and then people come to expect that of you.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed or are working on a large project, complete that before you look in your email. If you even glance at your inbox and see emails, you’re going to be tempted to see who they are from. One may be an important enough where you can’t help but open it. How will that then play on your conscience if you close out and try to refocus on what you were working on? Doesn’t go well does it? It creates a feeling of being rushed, overwhelmed and disrupts clear thinking. Nobody to blame but yourself! Maintain the focus on the important task at hand before you let your email creep in and interrupt.
What email response expectations are you setting for yourself? If you’re responding to emails within seconds or minutes you’re creating an expectation that you’re going to respond to emails in that time frame. You know people this way. You send them an email and if it takes a bit longer than usual to respond, you’re wondering what is the deal? Are you creating this expectation of yourself?
Create subfolders. Organizing your email is integral. My inbox is mainly clear. I have emails automatically move to certain subfolders. This is a way to both save time and also for emails that need to be addressed can be grouped how ever I want.
Create rules. You can create rules to auto forward emails to your subfolders to another person or mailbox within your team or my favorite, right into the deleted. A good friend of mine showed me how to almost auto pilot your incoming emails. It’s been a life changer.
Have another email address that is for delegating emails to your team. This is where using rules really helps. A business email that your team is monitoring throughout the day works great. It allows the email to be addressed by a member of your team. Eliminates you having to monitor and touch each email. Don’t be an email switchboard.
It also allows your personal email to be used for the urgent or personal emails, not the email that is for every business customer. Most emails that others can handle or that you’d delegate anyway is sent to the correct email inbox right away. This will improve workflow within your business.
Create an auto response. This is not an out of office reply. It’s an automated email that replies to every email that comes into your inbox. You let your sender know when to expect a reply from you. They receive acknowledgement that the email was received and the timeframe in which you will respond. You’re setting the expectation.
In this article by Tim Ferriss Two E-Mail Autoresponders That Work he gives some great examples and what to consider when setting up an auto response.
Set specific times of the day that you view or respond to emails. You may want to align this with your auto response. It is best to train yourself to check your email at certain points of the day. When you’re working on something you’re focused on that. Don’t allow yourself to look at your email. Keep the focus!
Don’t let your email control you and your day. You control your email and your day. Too many people forget this.