Taming Email - Batching Emails Is Good For Productivity
My tendency is to want to get things out of the way as they come up…. emails especially. An email sitting there unanswered is like a ringing phone.
Hoping to maintain (often regain) control over my inbox, I just want to deal with it, tick it off the list and move on.
The trouble is it’s not always so easy or so quick. As you know, work related emails often generate other tasks which take you away from what you were doing.
Checking Emails Too Often Is Counterproductive
Research shows that when you check emails, it takes a few minutes to refocus and get back into the task you were doing before the email…. not good for focus or productivity.
Are all those emails really so urgent they have to be dealt with the moment they come into your inbox?
Batching Emails Could Include -
- Only check emails two or three times per day (easier said than done)
- It’s less tempting to check too often if you set up rules for emails. Then only a limited number (including clients you are currently working with) come into your inbox. The rest go straight to folders to be read later
- Attend to emails on the same topic in a batch e.g. all orders, all bills, all customer enquiries etc.
Checking Too Often vs Not Checking At All - A Fine Balance
If you decide to check emails 3 times per day, stick to it. Checking emails too often is not productive, but going to the other extreme, and not getting to them at all by the end of the day, is not good for your business either.
This is easily done, if you get caught up in other tasks.
Do you have tips for batching emails, or for taming the email overload?
© Image courtesy of Yvonne Russell at Grow Your Writing Business.com
Tags: , batching emails, Productivity, taming email, taming email overloadShare This
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3 opinions for Taming Email - Batching Emails Is Good For Productivity
Corporate Jargon
Apr 8, 2008 at 7:31 pm
[…] other news, Yvonne Russell of Home Biz Notes wrote another update on how her new e-mail system is working out. Yvonne recommends batching email tasks as a productivity […]
Corporate Jargon | money news blog
Apr 8, 2008 at 8:12 pm
[…] other news, Yvonne Russell of Home Biz Notes wrote another update on how her new e-mail system is working out. Yvonne advocates batching email tasks as a productivity […]
Marsha Egan
Apr 13, 2008 at 9:46 am
Here’s a thought…
Staying ahead of email overload is not like doing the dishes. when you do the dishes, you more/less stay with it until they’re all clean. You start at the top and keep washing till done.
Think of your email like you think of your postal mail. When you bring it into the house, you sort it, rather than handle it all immediately. I like to batch everything that comes by email that requires my action into either high or low priority action folders, then set electronic diaries that remind me to do them. Because they’re in those action folders, I can find them easily. Hope this helps!
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