"Email Management Madness!" By Tina Zawila

By the time you read this article, I will be attending  an annual conference and will be out of the office for a week including travel time, and therefore, this week has been crazy busy with pre-conference (just like pre-holiday) busyness, trying to get everything done before I go!

One area that I constantly struggle with is managing emails. 

So I have been looking for the best email management tips I could find, here’s three of them:

• Rather than aim for zero emails in your inbox, aim for 20 items.  This number allows you to see all your emails without scrolling and is generally more achievable for most of us than that holy grail of “zero emails”.
• Another tip I found was suggested by the CEO of Zappos (Tony Hsieh) which is essentially this:  today, you only read and respond to yesterday’s emails.  Most emails don’t need an immediate, same-day response and by not being distracted during the day by the arrival of emails, you will be more productive.  You will also know tomorrow when you get up (or before you leave the day before) just how much time you need to dedicate to addressing yesterday’s emails today.  Which leads me to the next tip...
• Schedule a meeting with your inbox.  Set aside specific time each day, whether it’s an hour mid-morning (it has been suggested that the best time to clean up your inbox is two hours after you’ve started working), or three x 20 minute check-ins at the beginning, middle and end of the day.

Modern technology has vastly improved our productivity and ability to communicate with each other, however, if it is not used appropriately it can be more of a hindrance than a help.   It’s also important to remember that often the best form of communication is to talk face to face, or at least over the phone, so next time you think about sending an email, you may want to pick up the phone (for an instant response!).  Call our professional team at Sothertons Gladstone on 4972 1300 and let’s talk.