The Solution to Email Overwhelm
Chances are, you’ve never actually had to drink from a fire hose. And yet, given your steady diet of email, you know exactly what it feels like. Email overwhelm is so severe that it requires a full-time focus just to keep up.
And because you’re in the service industry, there is often a guilty compulsion to answer all of it. Or at least to leave it in your in-box until you get around to it.
Fortunately, you’ve developed an Olympian’s prowess. You check it before your drive to work, as you walk to your car, at the stoplight, on the elevator, during calls, between calls, while waiting for the next meeting, just before you leave the office, just before you get ready for bed, and occasionally on weekends.
At this pace, it’s no wonder that the important stuff, like strategizing, goal-setting, or long-range planning falls into the bucket marked “one of these days.”
But it doesn’t have to be this way. You can turn the fire hose into a much more manageable garden hose by simply setting up a “Low Priority” folder.
Answer emails from your clients and referral sources. Tend to the important and urgent. But when non-critical emails come in, drag them aside to a harmless place where they can sit and wait for you. They won’t clutter your in-box. They won’t stress you out. And in some cases, they won’t get answered, which is just as well given the contents of your “one of these days” bucket.
Then, make an appointment in your calendar for strategizing, goal-setting, and long-range planning. Your business development will benefit far more from an hour spent answering the question “Where do I want my business to be in 5 years?” than it will from the 30 low-priority emails you could have answered during that time.
The solution to email overwhelm is not to answer them more quickly or more frequently. It’s to answer them more selectively. Because the flow is beyond your control. You can’t stop it from coming in. But you can stop yourself from giving so much of your time to it. And you can make smarter choices about where that time goes once you reclaim it.
David,
Excellent advice,and esay to implement!
Daniel
Thanks, Daniel. Next time I see you I’ll check in to see how it’s working for you.
You are so right. The key is to take charge of your own calendar, your own life. If that is possible. We all need to work toward that goal.
David, are you watching me or something?! What a great idea that should have been obvious, except that I spend too much time managing emails for it to become obvious…
Thanks for a simple tool to manage a very large problem!
Cheers,
Tim
I’m glad you found the blog useful, Tim. Given the volume of email we all have to deal with these days, it’s important to apply strategies like this so we can stay focused on the important stuff.
Hi David,
This information is great and it looks like your business is very successful! Good for you!
Thanks,
Barbara
if you use outlook then i suggest using the RULES function to automatically ROUTE emails to different folders. and dont go overboard creating too many folders because if you have to scroll inside outlook because you have so many folders you’ve just killed your efficiency.
The rules function is very handy, especially when assigned to emails that I know ahead of time will be a low priority (like newsletters). And yes, too many folders can become another time-waster. I myself, need to revisit that. Thanks for pointing it out, Jason.
Amen!
I use a folder titled “Follow up” with sub-folders titled “Hi” and “Low” and drag the Inbox emails to those folders. By the end of the day I review and reply – or delete. Sometimes I save in the “Follow up” folder for another day or when I have some free time.
Excellent technique, Lionel. Thanks for adding your comment to the blog.
I’m going to set up my “low priority” file now David. Thanks!
Excellent as always.
Eddie
Thanks for taking the time to comment on the blog.
Great advice and good timing David, thank you! I also like the technique that Lionel shared.
Me too. Comments are always welcome and often helpful. Thanks for yours!
This is right on point. And I am one of those just blown out the water with email. I do use some of the suggested techniques, and also have mailboxes that I provide for what I know will be lower priority or subscription type inflows. BUT – it’s time to purge a lot…..
I’m just to the point where the emails are starting to get overwhelming. Like Tim, I feel it should have been an obvious solution if I hadn’t been so busy checking my email in the first place. I have SO many non-essential emails that can go into that folder, and frankly I’m looking forward to it!
Yes, this has been a growing problem for me also! I’ve been using categories in Outlook to accomplish this same goal. However, when you receive several hundred emails per day, before you know it the visible page is filled with categories (or Follow up) and the incoming or time-sensitive emails are off the Inbox screen at the very bottom. I intend to try your suggestion and now apply it to the Inbox, generally. I have used your method previously for bills, etc. The challenge is to remember “out of sight, out of mind”, and to schedule a time to review the new folder. Thanks!