Cleaning Up Email Clutter
In "Organized for Success," author Stephanie Winston reveals top executives' winning organization and time-management strategies. In her excellent chapter on conquering email clutter, she offers sage email-management advice:
Automatically prioritize your emails. Organize your messages by creating folders in your email program. Label your folders by correspondents' names or by importance. For example, create a folder for your boss, another for top customers. Use the "rules" command to automatically filter your emails into the appropriate folders. If you dont use folders, color code your emails to help you prioritize your messages.
View emails at set times. You may have to respond immediately to emails in folders deemed urgent, but other messages should be perused during scheduled times, such as once in the morning, right after lunch and late afternoon. Respond to emails with action. When viewing emails at your set times, apply one of three actions to the message:
1. If the content of the email can be handled in two minutes or less, do it then.
2. If it needs more than two minutes of your time, treat it as a project.
3. Delete or file the email if it is not actionable.
Print emails to save time. If you carpool to and from work, consider printing emails to read on the road. Jot down notes as you read to make responding quick and easy when you're back in front of the computer.
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