I get a lot of email every day. Between my work, personal and blog, it is over 500. This could be overwhelming. But I developed 10 email rules that make it manageable – and so that I am not spending all of me time checking email.
“No one ever got rich checking their email more often.” –Noah Kagen
1. My inbox needs to be empty when I am done processing it.
If I leave email in my inbox, I must think about it again the next time I process the inbox. Most of this stuff is barely worth the brainpower to look at it once. And I don’t want to waste my time and energy on doing it again. Once I have opened the email, it has to land in one of the processing folders.
2. Calendar items go on my calendar immediately.
I could file calendar items to be put on the calendar later. But I have found that this will lead me to have an incomplete calendar. Once I have an incomplete calendar, I start missing appointments or double booking. I never want to look at my calendar and think, “Do I have everything on the calendar?” So when something comes through email that goes on the calendar, it goes on there immediately. Luckily, my email apps allow me to do this with a single click.
3. Task items immediately go to where they will be sent to my task list.
I have the same rule with tasks as with the calendar. However, I have set up my Gmail via script to send everything in a particular label to my task manager Remember The Milk via email. This is very quick, and I can do this without taking my hands off the keyboard.
4. I only check email three times a day.
Having email open in either a browser tab or application encourages me to check it far too often. This is a distraction. It doesn’t matter whether it is the little notification icon in my taskbar at work, or the open tab when I go to the browser to test. Having email open claims my attention. I check my client email at 8, 11 and 2. I check my employer email at 4. And I check my personal email at 6 (am) and 6 pm. It took me a while to get used to this, but I find that knowing when I will check frees me up to do other things.
5. Old email gets put in an archive.
I keep email related to what I am currently working goes in a label (with sub-labels) called “Working” (original, I know). There will come a time when the emails in in working is no longer relevant. Rather than wade through them as I am looking for the relevant information, I either delete it, or archive it. For instance, the current year tax receipts are in a label called “Tax Receipts”. The previous years have been moved to “Archive/Tax Receipts.”
6. All of my email is filed/labeled.
The only way I can be sure that I will be able to find something is to make sure that everything is filed (Outlook) and/or labeled (Google). That way I can search a particular area, rather than for text that I may have (mis)remembered as being in an email. For Gmail, I have written a script that will label email with parent labels, as well as help me find unlabeled emails.
7. Mailing lists go to a special folder.
I belong to several email lists (both personal and professional). Rather than have these clog my inbox, I send them directly to a folder or label. That way I can read these when I have time, and not have to deal with them while processing my inbox.
8. Mailing list emails are deleted if they are older than 2 days.
Along with the previous rule, I also delete any mailing list article that is older than 48 hours. Rather than putting these into a backlog and telling myself I will read them at some point, I simply delete them. I have scripts set up in both systems to automatically delete these emails.
I also delete all of the “extraneous” email generated from overzealous list providers when I asked for something free. I honestly believe that if I need it, it will appear at the time I need it…and not in my email.
9. If I can’t answer in 5 sentences, I call.
One of the traps of modern life is that it is easier to send an email. However, there are times when it is inefficient to send email – it is better to call. If I can’t answer an email in 5 sentences or less, I will either pick up the phone (home) or schedule a quick stand-up meeting (work). It takes less time overall than going back and forth a dozen times in email.
10. I send one subject per email.
One of the most difficult things about teaching were the emails from administration. Each email was lengthy – 700 words or more – and addressed multiple items. If I didn’t read carefully, I would miss things. Naturally I missed things in just about every email, as my fellow teachers did. We would get together at lunch and compare notes to make sure we had all gotten the details.
This experience just drove home the importance of one subject per email. I stick to one subject, with an appropriate subject line, and there has not been a case of missed information since.
11. (Bonus) I change the subject line on replies to fit the email.
OK, I actually have 11 email rules. But I was a math teacher…who says I can count? The last rule helps me find emails in my inbox. When an email chain wanders onto another subject, I change the subject line in my response. For instance, if we were talking about the dimensions of product X in an email, and someone responds to me with questions about cost, I will change the subject line to reflect that the email is now about cost. This allows the recipient to find the email without having to remember that the cost of the product is in an email labeled with dimensions.
In Conclusion
Following these email rules has transformed my relationship with email from a constant source of stress and distraction into a manageable part of my workflow. While it took some time to develop and stick to these habits, the payoff in terms of productivity and peace of mind has been immense. Remember, email should be a tool that serves you, not a taskmaster that controls your day. By implementing similar rules and boundaries around your own email usage, you can regain control of your inbox and your time.
