When was the last time you checked your email? This morning? An hour ago? Every 15 minutes? For many of us, email rules our lives. We spend countless minutes (or hours) each day checking or refreshing our inbox, trashing ads and spam messages, and deciding which emails to keep and which to delete forever. The onerous task of organizing messages into separate folders, assigning them label tags, and blocking chainmail could almost necessitate a personal assistant. And for all the email we inevitably parse through in our day-to-day lives, how many messages actually necessitate a response?
Studies on the impact of email indicate those who take control over their inboxes are less stressed, happier, and more productive than those who spend a good portion of their day checking and re-checking their inbox. The key to taking control: decide when to log off, and stick to it. Researchers suggest blocking out two 15-minute or half-hour slots during the day to really deal with your email, rather than constantly checking throughout the day. Make it a habit to flag your most important contacts and recipients as “urgent” so that you aren’t sifting through hundreds of emails just to find one or two messages that actually require your response.
The best way to manage your emails? Sort as you go. Block and delete targeted ads and spam messages as they arrive, rather than ignoring them and allowing marketing groups to flood your inbox. You can even flag and filter messages containing your name in the body into a folder you check daily, and move messages containing newsletters or important information that doesn’t require a response into a separate folder you check once a week.
Most importantly, be okay with letting go. If you miss an email that’s important enough, it will always make its way back to you.