Information Overload

How to control your email without it controlling you. Email was intended to make written communication more efficient - and become a great time-saver. In some cases, the exact opposite has happened and some of feel more stressed and frustrated than ever by the amount of email that floods our inbox. Spam and unwanted invitations to buy pills and fake Rolexes aside, as well as invitations to join into social and business network sites, we often receive and respond to over 100 emails per day. Add that up in terms of time spent and at 3 to 4 minutes per email, there goes a considerable slice of the day. How do we manage this information overload whilst still remaining efficient? Here are some tips that might assist you to take back control of your email activity:

1. Decide when to check emails Turn off the “new email” alert and decide to check your email at a time that suits you best. Depending on the nature of your job role this could be frequently or once or twice a day. This immediately gives you a sense of control over the time that you open mail and allows you to choose a time in the day that relates to your energy cycle. Opening new email can sometimes become almost addictive. Avoid the need to constantly check who is emailing you and set time patterns for opening emails that suit the requirements of your position.
2. Set up folders Make a conscious decision that you will not hold more than 20 emails in your inbox and 90% of these emails should not be more than 3 months old. Everything else that comes in to the box will either be deleted or moved into an appropriate folder. Any email relating to a client or a project will be stored this way. Just having fewer emails on your screen will set the expectation that it is best to keep a tight rein on where your time is being spent. If your current inbox has an excessive amount of emails, do an immediate spring-clean. Delete emails that have long conversation threads and file into the folders you have set up. Most email programs have a function that automatically moves incoming emails to an appropriate folder by subject matter or sender.
3. Set Expectations Where possible, establish protocols with clients and colleagues setting up expectations as to when you would like to be emailed and when you would prefer a call. If you are being cc’ed into emails that you do not feel are relevant to you, ask the senders to please resist the temptation to include you in when they feel it absolutely essential. Explain that their emails are important to you but you are drowning in so much email that it would be best if they just let you know when there is an action point that is directly relevant to you.
4. Be a role model When you send out emails, think about the recipient’s inbox as well! Lead by example and ensure that your emails are all necessary and to the point. Don’t cc in a whole group of people onto an email that is a ‘nice to know’. Vow not to send any more ‘FYI’ emails that recipients need to swim through to find the key facts that are indeed relevant to them. Limit group emails unless absolutely necessary. Respond briefly to ultra-long emails – the sender will quickly get the message that they need to be more to the point. Perhaps the recipients will pick up on what your tone and follow your lead by respecting your time as well.
5. Enable email archiving One source of email stress is the fear of losing that one really important email. So people often keep everything “just in case”. This can mean a huge inbox or lots of separate folders. Learn how to archive emails to keep them in their organised folders by date order – so if you vaguely remember that a particular email came in last May, you can click open the “May archive” and find it more quickly than if you had to search through the past six months of messages. Archiving also reduces the network load and the risk that your mailbox cannot accept new emails – and hence the stress-inducing “network over limit” messages. (Peter Kenworthy, 15 November 2007, People Management magazine Page: 46)