You call it your inbox. A more accurate name might be your “Indecision box.”
How many times do you look at the same email message?
- Should I respond or not?
- How do I handle this?
- Should I sign up?
- If I ignore it, will it go away?
- Do I need to save this somewhere?
You know the questions. If you return to the same message multiple times, pondering those same questions, you are wasting time and energy. There are only four efficient responses to any email:
- Act immediately (read or respond)
- Save it for later (flagged by date or filed with relevant project)
- Archive it (an overused option, but not ineffective)
- Delete it
To increase your success rate in making these choices, don’t check email unless you have time to complete this process. If awaiting a particular message, check quickly and leave. Come back later when you have time to handle each appropriately in sequence.
If your inbox isn’t emptied a couple of times each day, you definitely have an Indecision box instead! Worse than that, you have an E-mess!
Do a spot check on employee inboxes and you’ll know immediately whether they need help too.
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