subject: Email Overload? - Productivity Tips For Busy Entrepreneurs [print this page] Technology is supposed to help us save time and help us get through our day quicker, easier and hopefully, with less stress. But, for many small business owners the technology of email has certainly become a double edged sword.
For busy entrepreneurs managing your inbox is among the biggest productivity killers. Here are 7 tips to specifically manage your email productivity so you can focus more on the rest of what it takes to grow a successful business.
#1. Limit your time on email. If you know you only have 45 minutes to read and respond to the most urgent messages you are more likely to scan and prioritize those emails. And, you're more likely to write shorter responses.
#2. Check your inbox daily. On the flip side of business owners going overboard on checking email too often are the folks who aren't checking them often enough. If you are allowing several days or even a full week to go by without cleaning out your inbox that is when it transforms into an avalanche that is overwhelming to manage.
#3. Commit to checking emails only twice a day. If you are constantly checking your inbox it makes it very difficult to focus on all of your other important key result areas that require your attention. Contrary to popular fear, the chances of you missing the time contingent, urgent email will not actually break your success simply because you didn't open that message until later in the day.
#4. Create an autoresponder. If you're that anxious about missing a time sensitive email (which in reality vast majority of business owners rarely even get any that couldn't be responded to by the next day), then set up an auto-responder that says something like: "due to heavier (holiday) business we are limited this season to checking emails at 8am and at 2pm. If you're message requires immediate attention please contact ___"
#5. Scan both your inboxes at the same time. Most of us have a work email and a personal onel. I've noticed in many of my clients that they have companies who seem to send emails to both of their addresses. When you scan them at the same time, you can delete duplicates at the same time and for spam mail you can re-direct the whole batch from the same sender straight to your junk box.
#6. Scan your emails alphabetically. I find this speeds my reading time and responses. Often times you get emails from the same people or same companies throughout the month. It's much faster to scan and decide what to do with each one when you're addressing batches from the same sender. When the senders are all mixed up your brain has to shift gears with each separate email.
#7. Blacklist or Junk Box non-useful emails. A lot of Entrepreneurs and business owners' inboxes are flooded with tons of newsletters and ezines. The beauty of sorting them alphabetically is that its easier and quicker for you to also evaluate the usefulness of that sender's content. If you have not found great value from the past 6-8 newsletters from that sender, then it's time to purge them from your inbox and send those to your blacklist (aka junk folder).
In closing, also know you don't have to choose email as your main communication technology. For many people it takes far longer to write someone than it does to simply talk to someone. Especially, now a days when you truly need to proof read and edit for email etiquette.
So even if they sent you an email it doesn't mean you are obligated to respond back through email. You can certainly call them instead to respond. -- Ahhh, the phone! Sometimes new technology does not trump the old technology.
