10 tips for Eliminating

Email Overload

®

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

3………………………………………………Knowing what to delete4……………………………...Avoiding newsletters and mailing lists5………………………………..Scheduling time to clean your inbox6……………………………………………..Scheduling time to email7……………………………………………………..Setting up folders 8…………………………...Automated rules to file emails by sender9…………………………………………Helpful automation features 10………………………………………Knowing when to ask for help11………………………………………………Knowing when to reply12…………………………………………………Anti Spam solutions

KNOWING WHAT TO DELETE

Avoid holding onto emails you don't need. Any amount of time spent considering what to archive and what not to archive is a waste of time. Use your judgment, you know full well what you need to keep and what needs to be deleted!

Once you get started, you’ll be surprised how much you end up deleting! What’s more, a leaner inbox will greatly reduce your stress levels.

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AVOIDING NEWSLETTERS AND MAILING LISTS

Newsletters are not a bad thing; they do help small businesses and social programs get more coverage across the internet. However, if you need information about something specific, you may as well just Google it.

Don’t think of unsubscribing to a newsletter as someone else's loss, but rather your gain.

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SCHEDULING TIME TO CLEAN YOUR INBOX

No matter how busy you are, you still need to find time during your crazy work week to do laundry, right? Putting time aside to clean your inbox might seem like another task to add to the pile you already need to accomplish, but consider it essential and you might just accomplish everything faster.

Schedule the time you need to do this and you will have a base upon which to be more efficient and productive!

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Now that you have a tidy inbox, allocate separate chunks of time to process and reply to all your important emails. An orderly inbox means you only have to focus on what needs to be done without being bogged down by the overwhelming amount of messages you found when you got to work that morning.

Don’t check your emails any other time of day and you will be amazed at how productive you can be!

SCHEDULING TIME TO EMAIL

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Irony has it that most company executives are just too busy to take the time to manually set up folders within which emails can be filed by category, sender, company, etc. Thing is, taking the time to do this is a huge time saver in the long run! Organization can do a lot for your inbox.

SETTING UP FOLDERS

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Outlook is full of little tricks that are designed to help you through your busy day; you will find that folders are crucial to time management.

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AUTOMATED RULES TO FILE EMAILS BY SENDER

Now that you have categorized folders, you can and set up rules to automatically file emails from specific senders into their respective folders! Tell the ‘rule wizard’ in Outlook’s Move Feature what you want it to do, and you’ll never have to do it manually again! Now, not only is your inbox organized, it will stay that way.

Don’t worry about splitting your focus anymore, you can now focus on one thing at a time.

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Take that thread someone has uselessly CC you to – well, Outlook 2010 has a simple solution. The ‘conversation management’ tool can be found in Outlook’s Clean Up feature and it will compress those threads for you. There is also an ‘Ignore’ feature, incase you want to delete the entire thread at once.

HELPFUL AUTOMATION FEATURESTake advantage of Outlook’s built in automation tools, and you’ll feel more productive than ever!

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KNOWING WHEN TO ASK FOR HELP

Image source http://www.depositagift.com/blog/weddings/1-organizing-principle-for-brides-delegate/

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It isn’t uncommon to receive an email that you can’t answer. Don’t be afraid to re-direct it!

Every now and again, you might be asked to answer a question that you simply don’t have an answer to. Instead of writing extra emails to find the answer, simply re-direct it to someone who can take care of it easily, and move on to what’s next on your list.

RSVP?

KNOWING WHEN TO REPLY

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An urgent or pressing matter is likely to be transmitted via telephone or in person.When your inbox is flooded with emails, keep in mind that it isn’t

necessarily important to answer all of them right away, if at all. To reply to all of them will take more time than considering which ones need replies. Remember that if something is expected to be finished by the end of the work day, it’s highly unlikely that you will be reminded in an email.

ANTI-SPAM SOLUTIONS

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Did you know that approximately 19 % of emails found in a corporate executive’s inbox on a given day is spam?

Spam can seriously affect workplace productivity. The time spent investigating a useless email is time lost working on what you were doing before you were interrupted by spam. Implementing anti-spam solutions is the most effective way to avoid this problem. Click on the picture above for more information about modusGate, a leader in spam control!

There is, as with all things, an alternative…

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1. http://smallbusiness.chron.com/deleting-emails-cydia-62218.html2. http://classyclosets.com/chandler/2013/05/06/organizing-schedule/3. http://www.minutehound.com/time-clock-blog/time-clock-and-effective-scheduling/4. http://www.houzz.com/photos/filing-cabinets-and-carts5. Image source http://www.home-automation-montreal.ca/about/6. http://www.atiactuators.com/recent-news/ati-invests-$1.5-million-in-custom-manufacturing-machinery.html7. http://www.depositagift.com/blog/weddings/1-organizing-principle-for-brides-delegate/

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