Ever wonder how you can earn more time doing what is most important to you?
Do you feel like escaping from behind your desk and away from the 126 emails the average person receives per day?
There is a way for you to process through all your emails.
Would you love to hear more about it? Out of 126 emails, only 77 are legitimate.
How would you enjoy knowing about a golden rule that pierces through your inbox?
Save Yourself from Email
When I was a Human Resources Manager in Upstate New York, my days centered around email. It seemed as if I was chained to my desk. I was so buried in processing email that I would forget to drink my coffee. Not realizing the time that flashed by, I would grab my cup and sip some nasty, cold coffee. After several months of reliving this tragedy daily, I bought a candle warmer to keep my coffee warm. The problem was not the coffee cooling, but it was me living inside of my inbox that kept me from enjoying my favorite morning beverage.
“Veni, Vidi, Vici”
“I came, I saw, I conquered.”
How to Take Over Your Email
The golden rule of email is the same concept as Get Things Done. If you spend longer than two minutes processing an email, put it in a folder to process or reply later. Create 3 folders. First, create a folder to place emails that require a response that lasts longer than two minutes to draft. Second, you need a folder where you can store things that do not require responses, but are waiting upon an action. Last, create a folder where you can archive items that you think are valuable and will reference later.
The average Jane or Joe types 38-40 words per minute. Sentences are comprised of 8-11 words to be easily read. Do the math and that equals 7-10 sentences per 2 minutes. Generally, you can communicate effectively to most emails in 7-10 sentences if you cut out the fat. If you want to change your behavior, you must change your thinking. Take a Twitter-like approach who limits tweets to 140 characters. Instead, use 7-10 sentences to convey your thoughts. When you slice the excess fat, that means you use plain text, limit attachments and no abbreviations or emoticons. Do not send one-liners such as Thank You, Okay, and kill the read receipts. You’re not only fiddling around, but cluttering up inboxes with rubbish. Respect the recipient by providing a prompt, clear, concise and easy-to-read email. Your goal is to keep the amount of elapsed time to less than an hour in your email.
7 Steps to Make Certain Your Inbox is at Zero
- Start using the golden rule of email.
- Create a 3 folder system.
- Process your inbox first by reading the subject and scanning.
- If you can craft an email response in two minutes, execute.
- Process your folders according to importance.
- Process emails in each folder from more important to least significant.
- Spend more face-to-face time with the people you work with and enjoy hot coffee.
I will have to try out this system, Kirby. It definitely makes sense. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Let me know how it works Adam, feedback lets me know how the system is working and might give me ideas for tweaking and making adjustments.
One of the helpful things I heard recently: “Your inbox is full of other people’s agendas.” This insight gives me some courage to not sit around waiting for the next message to pop in there, but to identify the critical work on MY agenda. Then tips like what you have listed here, Kirby, really help you process email messages quickly in the time you allot for it. I have to keep re-learning. Email processing obeys the gas laws of thermodynamics and will expand to fill all the space you give it.
I call it electronic banter when we engage in sending response immediately after we get a response and this goes on for several responses like a ping pong match. It was probably easier to call and settle the matter in 5 min than the time spent crafting emails and formulating thought along with the editing process. If it’s not urgent I won’t respond that day and if it is I usually pick up the phone and call. I wait at least 24 hours before I respond to any email, 48 at the most. Rules I put in place for myself to keep me honest about my boundaries with email.