Does your email Inbox “runneth” over every day?

If you have emails dating back several months then you’re keeping too much information in your Inbox. And you’re probably having a difficult time trying to find what you’re looking for in the drawer full of email socks!

You need an approach that allows you to work uninterrupted by email, reply to email within a reasonable time, eliminate overdue emails and finally remove email backlog.

When you need to work uninterrupted just turn your email checking off. Turn off your alarms so that you can avoid those pop-up “new email has arrived” alerts or those noisy audible alarms. Of course if you’re waiting some important email to arrive then skip this step.

You could make it a practice to respond to emails within certain time frames. For example, you might decide to respond to your emails within 24 hours if they are not of high importance or considered confidential. And respond to confidential and high importance emails in less than two and four hours respectively.

Another email management practice you can implement would be to schedule specific time periods during the day when all you do is respond to emails. Perhaps you only respond to emails from 8am to 9am, then from 11:30am-noon, then again in the afternoon from 4pm to 5pm. If your occupation is more data driven then you can increase the frequency and the duration of the times that you respond to incoming email. Either way, you will have improved your email management techniques and at the same time you will also gain in time management resulting in better efficiency at work.

And if you’re going to be away from your work for any extended period of time it is also a good practice to turn on your “I’m away from email” auto-reply message and explain the beginning date you will be away from email, how many days you will be away and the date you will be back to respond to your senders’ emails. Also include a contact person, their email address, phone number and their position (optional) in your auto-response so that people sending you emails will know who to contact while you are away from email.

When you need to clear out emails quickly try moving them into folders, aptly named, for later review. This way any important documents and communications can be retrieved for reviewing later during your free time periods.

It’s the start of a new year. Get organized and start managing your incoming emails more efficiently.