I recently listened to a talk delivered by Neil Gaiman, one of the cut comments he made was “I realized that my job had become responding to email and that I wrote as a hobby.” This is a feeling that I think many people get as their inboxes become overburdened with seemingly urgent messages on a daily, if not hourly basis. Gradually you can begin to hate the inbox even though you compulsively check it. Here’s what I recommend you do:

Check Your Email Once Per Day

Make a specific time in the morning or afternoon where you check your email. I personally do this in the morning and I only read and respond to messages from the day before. If you have a job with higher communication needs perhaps check your email once in the morning, once in the afternoon. This will help you keep email in a more manageable place and will prevent the problem of you continually interrupting your workflow by checking emails all day.

Turn Off Notifications

On your computer, your phone, and any other devices that beep or buzz when you get a message. I tell my staff to text me if they have an absolutely urgent message to get through. I don’t need to be compulsively popping into my mail client every 2 minutes.

Process to 0

There are many great systems that you can learn about for handling email, one that is worth checking out is Inbox 0. My personal system which is inspired by inbox 0 is to go through my inbox at my designated time and with each message do one of 3 things:

1. Respond – if it will take me less than 2 minutes.

2. Add to my Todo List – If it calls for an activity or requires more than 2 minutes to compose a response.

3. Archive/Delete – If it does not require a response.

Don’t use your email box as your todo list. Use your todo list as a todo list. Once all my emails are onto my todo list I can prioritize them and slot them in appropriately with the other activities of my day or week.

Take Yourself Out of the Loop

With each message you receive, ask yourself: “How could I never receive this message again?” If it’s a sales message or newsletter, consider unsubscribing or making an inbox rule to set it aside. If it’s a request for information, ask how you could move this information to somewhere like a wiki or website that would allow it to be accessed without you providing it. If it’s a request for permission – ask yourself if you truly need to control that power, perhaps you can take yourself out of the loop. For example if you’re a manager and your staff are requesting to spend money on things, perhaps allow them to act without permission if the expense is under a certain dollar figure.

 

I have found by using these steps you can actually move email into a place where in many regards it may be more useful than in-person communication because it is not interruptive and allows you to prioritize your responses. Good luck moving back toward a place where you can see email as a communication tool and something worth loving.